The Light Within The Darkness
by RavenxRiku
Summary: Raven is an orphaned child who keeps her feelings locked inside, as well as a special power. But when she meets Riku, her whole life changes. Will she be able to protect her new friend from the Darkness, or will they both be consumed?
1. Chapter 1

**An Unexpected Turn In Life**

The wind blowing through my jet black, shoulder-length hair, the scent of pine trees and salty sea air carried to my nostrils on the breeze and the peaceful sound of the waves and occasional screech of the eagle gliding above my head. My brown eyes staring over the vast landscape of forests, mountains and coves. The little harbour town of my childhood, the small Capricorn Lake at the base of a mountain, the various markets and towns of the inland and, of course, the Dragon's Fire Abbey where I trained as a SOLDIER. I turned my gaze upwards at the clouded over sky and thought of the outside world.

"One day, when I'm older, I'll explore every single one." I mumbled to myself.

"HEY! RAVEN!" I tore my eyes from the sky to look down the cliff face where my two best friends, Kaz Von Smitten and Caddie Hamilari, were sat on their horses, waving to me. I waved back and smiled.

"HEY, GUYS!" Kaz beckoned for me to ride my horse down to them, so I walked over to Jet, my black shire horse with white hoofs and strip down his nose, hoisted myself onto his bare back, and rode through the trees until I came to where Kaz and Caddie were waiting for us.

"Finished day dreaming up there?" Kaz asked. I chuckled. "What were you doing up there anyway?"

"Nothing much. Just admiring the view."

"You mean thinking of the outside world again. Not until we're sixteen, Raven. You know that." Kaz reminded me.

"Still, don't you just wanna go out there and explore right now?" Caddie asked.

"It's only one more year before we're old enough to go. It'll fly by, you'll see." Kaz reassured.

"Easy for you to say, you guys are already fifteen. I'm still fourteen until August." I moaned.

"Agh, mentally you're older than both of us." Caddie chuckled.

"True, true." They both giggled, while I merely smiled. We trotted through the forest for a while longer before I noticed what Caddie had done to her horse, Misty.

"Caddie, why in the name of the dragons have you put a pink, frilly saddle on Misty? The poor boy's probably gonna die of shame."

"Don't be silly. He loves it."

"What say we do him a favour and burn it tonight?" I whispered to Kaz, who chuckled and agreed. We arrived at the great oak gates and gave the guard our names before leading our horses into the stables. We then heard the lunch bells tolling in the east bell tower and headed over to the great hall. The head priestess, Mika, inspected our hands to make sure they were clean before allowing us to enter and take our places. Then we 'recited' the grace.

_Oh holy fathers of the lands,_

_We thank thee for this humble and delightful meal_

_Ni Chi!_

At least that's what we were _supposed_ to recite. Me, Kaz and Caddie made up our own version.

_Around your teeth, around your gums,_

_Watch out stomach, here it comes!_

"That never gets old!" Caddie giggled as Kaz already started tearing chicken meat off the bone with her teeth. I began to eat as well and when everyone was finished, we went to the Āsudoragon (Earth Dragon) shrine to change into our shrine maid kimonos for work. We basically dusted the shrine and prayed for good harvest and left scented candles and offerings. Then we did the same at the other five shrines. Suirō (Water Dragon), for plentiful water. Eadoragon (Air Dragon), for health of the people. Hi no doragon (Fire Dragon), for protection from the Darkness. Raitoningudoragon (Lightning Dragon), for the continue of peace between the four continents. Zen'nō doragon (Almighty Dragon), for all life given to our world. We did this routine every day before I went off to training, Kaz would go back to her father the inventor and Caddie would teach the younger girls how to be women when they're older. However, that march afternoon was different. As we walked across the north courtyard, I saw my master, Jak, talking to a strange woman with sallow green skin, piercing yellow eyes, red fingernails that tapered to a point like knives. Her hair was styled in such a way it looked like she had horns and she wore billowing black robes with purple accents and carried a gold staff tipped with a green orb. There was a crow perched on her shoulder.

"Hey, who do you think that is?" I asked my friends.

"I dunno. Oh man! I'm gonna be late!" They both ran off towards their stations and left me to my own devices. I walked over to my master casually and bowed to him in respect.

"Master."

"Ah, here she is now. Raven, this is Maleficent. She's come to... um... Watch you train." I reluctantly bowed to her as well out of politeness. Her bird eyed me and squawked loudly.

"So you're Raven? I've heard so much about you and it has me quite... Intrigued." She said, stroking her bird to calm it.

"Thank you, Ma'am. I work hard."

"Why don't you head over to the obstacle course and we'll meet you there?" I bowed to both of them and did as he bade me. The obstacle course was made up of moving floors and walls, arrows firing from the walls, targets and enemies then at the end a trap is set where it's usually one against five. When Jak and Maleficent arrived, I entered the course. I'd done it a hundred times before but there was always something new in there. I ran and rolled through the firing arrows, kart wheeled across a ten foot high beam, swung through the monkey hoops, and landed safely on the other side. I set off another round of arrows with a trip wire, ran across and at the end of the firing range, two giant axes swung horizontally from the walls but I avoided them by diving between them and lightly landing on my hands and flipping onto my feet. I aced the one on five combat and came out unscathed.

"Impressive. Master Jak, she will be perfect." Maleficent informed my master.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Perfect for what exactly, master?"

"Excuse us for a moment." Maleficent nodded curtly and we walked a good distance away. "Maleficent is a sorceress. She can teach you magic much stronger than any of us can. I think it would be best if you go with her to her home where she can train you in a safer environment. There's not much more I can teach you and you're a higher level than expected for your age."

"So you're sending me away?"

"Only if you want to go." I looked at my feet, not sure of what to do. I felt Jak's hand on my shoulder. "She's giving you a few days to think about it. And of course there is the wedding to think about."

"Okay, I think on it."

"Thank you. This would be a great opportunity for you. Now run along and finish your training session with Ejay. He needs to practice." I bowed and went back to the north courtyard where Jak and Mika's ten year old son, Ejay was waiting for me to train him. His older sister, Beka who was the musician of the abbey, was getting married in two days time and she'd asked me, Kaz and Caddie to be her bridesmaids. The bells of the west tower rang out, signalling dinner. I met up with my friends as usual and we went through the same process as lunch.

_Oh holy fathers of the lands_

_We thank thee for this humble and delightful meal_

_Ni Chi!_

And as usual we recited our own personal version.

_Around the teeth, Around the gums_

_Watch out stomach, here it comes!_

"Let's eat already, I'm starving!" Kaz dug in immediately and Caddie had her fair share, however, I merely played with my food. I had no enthusiasm for food at that time.

"Hey what's up?" Caddie inquired. Kaz actually stopped stuffing her face out of concern, for once.

"I'll tell you guys after dinner."

* * *

"WHAT!?" My best friends shouted in union.

"This woman wants to train me in sorcery but it means I'll have to leave. I decided I'm going to go with her." I rested my head on my knees and groaned.

"But you can't leave us! We're your best friends! And what about Beka's wedding? You're still gonna be here for that right?" Caddie begged.

"Of course, Caddie! You've got another three days with me before I leave. Jak's said that we don't have to attend any duties or meetings until I go, so we can spend as much time as possible together." Caddie flung her arms around me and Kaz, who had been very quiet, joined the hug. After a while I pushed them off slightly to talk. "Tomorrow I was thinking we could go to see Galefrix at the Capricorn Lake and maybe go for another ride together on the horses." They both nodded in agreement and we all fell asleep together on the bed.

* * *

The next day, we woke up early so we could get to the Capricorn Lake before noon. We saddled up our horses, Misty with the same pink, frilly saddle, Kaz's horse, Tinker, had a plain brown saddle whereas I rode Jet bare back.

"So, shall we head out?" I asked.

"Let's go." They both replied. We dug our heels into our horses' sides and galloped out of the Abbey gates and into the forest, on our way to the Capricorn Lake where we would meet with our old friend, Galefrix. As we approached the sparkling waters, we dismounted and tied the reins to a couple of birch trees, before walking towards the shore. I stared out over the pure water for a while, then placed two fingers to my mouth and whistled really loudly. There was a moments silence. Then, an ear splitting roar sounded, soon followed by the beating of gigantic wings and a huge black dragon with gray eyes landed on the shore beside us. All three of us ran over to it and hugged it. My arms flew around his neck, Caddie jumped up onto his head and cuddled one of his horns and Kaz leapt on his back.

"GALEFRIX!" We all shouted gleefully.

"What brings you to the lake, young ones?" He asked, chuckling.

"I'm leaving in three days to train in sorcery so we thought it'd be nice to spend time together."

"Ah, yes, the witch Maleficent came to pay you a visit yesterday. Be careful around her, Raven, she goes to any means to get what she wants." I nodded. "Now, to brighten the subject, I hear young Beka is getting married tomorrow, correct?"

"Yup, and we're the bridesmaids!" Caddie squealed, clapping her hands excitably.

"And fine bridesmaids you'll be too, I'm sure."

"I'll finally be able to do Raven's make-up!" Caddie squealed. For as long as I knew her, she always wanted me to wear make-up, and be more girly. Now she was getting her chance.

"Just remember, I have my limits, Caddie. To think that it was three months ago, Kirin proposed. It's gone so quick." I sighed. We sat on the beach, staring at the clouds. The others were care free apart from the fact that I was going away, but something had been bugging me for the past few months. A dream I'd had. It starts with a boy surrounded by Light, then that Light is slowly corrupted by Darkness. The boy holds his hand out to me in panic and I wake up. But I can never remember what the boy looks like. Caddie and Kaz said it was nothing to worry about. Just an effect of too much training. But it was more. A message of sorts, I could feel it.

"Galefrix, can you tell us the story of our world? Please!" Kaz pleaded with the old dragon, bringing me back to the world.

"Very well, young one. _Back when the worlds were one, dragons roamed the skies, protecting the children of the life stream. Then came, the great Keyblade War. The dragons could not calm, nor contain the key bearers to stop them from tearing up the world. The dragons tried to reason with the warriors that Kingdom Hearts and the Light, were gifts meant for all beings. But the new born essence we know as Darkness, growing in each heart drove them to want Kingdom hearts for themselves, and they turned on their protectors. A great many dragons were slain in those darkest of days. The species almost wiped out. Eventually only the strongest and wisest of our race remained. The five elemental dragons, ten others, who were warriors and the Almighty Dragon. They gathered and came to the decision that the five elemental dragons and the Almighty Dragon would protect the motherland of dragon kind, along with the humans that resided there. When the world was torn apart by the Darkness, the five elemental dragons and the Almighty Dragon cast a barrier of Light around the world we call, Phelicia, so as to protect the prosperity of the world. A new era was born as the children of the worlds rebuilt the worlds we know today, with the surviving Light within their hearts. _And that is the tale of how our world came into being and how the Guardian Barrier was created." Kaz let out a long sigh.

"I love that story!"

"Mmn." I grunted in agreement. The Guardian Barrier. It had kept my world safe from Heartless for centuries. (Apart from the small enclosure where we trained to fight the Heartless). Caddie was laid on Galefrix's back, playing with his horns and humming a traditional Lullaby, while Kaz was sat under his neck in the shade. I stood silently at my horse and groomed him, thinking about what life would have in store for me once I left my world. My home. I closed my eyes and felt the breeze lift my black hair.

* * *

"RAVEN!" I groaned as the loud and familiar call of Caddie's voice rang through the hallways. My door banged open as a very excited Caddie burst into my room.

"C'mon it's the big day! We've gotta get ready!" I grunted into my duvet. The sound of curtains running along rails and the blinding light that followed made me bury my face my pillow. Then two hands grabbed my shoulders and began shaking me vigorously before pulling me half out of bed so my legs were the only part of my body on the bed. I opened one eye and grumbled as I arranged myself into a sitting position.

"(Yawn) Morning, Caddie."

"_Come on_! Or we won't make it in time!" The trainee Priestess urged.

"Okay, okay. Just gimme a sec (yawn) to wake up a bit."

"Five minutes! Just put your bath robe on." I nodded and she waited outside the door while I pulled on my dressing gown over my track-suit bottoms and baggy vest, and slid my feet into a pair of Stewie griffin slippers before meeting her outside. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along the corridors until we came to Kaz's room. Kaz was _the heaviest _sleeper in the abbey if not the world. You could throw her chain ball at her head and she'd still be snoring. The only way to wake her up, was to,

"BUNDLE!" Me and Caddie shouted in union as we leapt onto Kaz and woke her up.

"Bloody hell, guys!" She yelled, startled.

"Time to get your arse outta bed, Von Smitten." I jeered as I rolled off of her bed. Caddie followed and we both lifted up one foot each and pulled Kaz out of bed.

"I'M UP ALREADY!" She snapped as we burst out laughing.

"Your are now." I giggled. Kaz put on her furred boots, wrapped her signature scarf around her neck and put her trademark goggles on her head. Then we all went to the prep room where our make-up was going to be done and we would be given our dresses. Caddie was overjoyed to be doing my make-up, as she always complained that I should wear it more often. We went up to the changing rooms and put on our lilac bridesmaid dresses with rose pink trimming. The style was nice enough, just the colour wasn't my favourite. Caddie however, absolutely adored the dresses because her two favourite colours were pink and purple. The dresses were floor length, the breasts were sleeveless and shaped like hearts with a pink rose lining. The connection between the top of the dress and the skirt of the dress was a belt of pink roses and in our hair, little flowers made of rose quarts were clipped just behind our ears.

"I love it! I love it!" Caddie squealed in delight, clapping and twirling. We descended the stairs to the main hall where Jak, Mika and Ejay were waiting.

"Oh! You all look so beautiful! Give us a twirl!" Mika exclaimed. Caddie gladly pirouetted while me and Kaz turned reluctantly. (We were never big fans of dresses). Ejay was sniggering at me and Kaz in dresses.

"What's so funny, Ejay?"

"You in a _dress_!" I raised an eyebrow.

"At least _we _don't look like Rumplestiltskin!" I shot back at him. He went silent. We her footsteps coming from the staircase and we all turned to see Beka walking down the steps in a beautiful white dress, her bleach blonde hair falling to her hips in ringlets, her head topped with a tiara of rose quarts and amethysts. Jak met her at the base of the staircase and took her hand.

"I can't believe it's time to give my daughter away. You're not my little girl anymore." He said with a sad smile.

"Oh, daddy! I'll always be your little girl!" Beka assured my master. Mika was in her priestess uniform as she would be performing the ceremony, started to cry in joy.

"You look so pretty!" Caddie giggled.

"As do my bridesmaids." Beka replied, smiling. We all blushed. We made our way to the chapel where Mika took her place at the altar and Beka, Jak, me, Caddie and Kaz waited for the wedding march to begin.

"You nervous?" Jak asked his daughter as she took his arm and held her bouquet.

"A little. But I know it's the right thing for us." She replied, smiling. Me, Caddie and Kaz made an arrow formation behind Beka and Jak as the music started and the doors opened. There was Kirin dressed in a white suit with a lilac cravat and rose. The celebration lasted the best part of the night. Kirin and Beka were lost in their dances together, Caddie was busy flirting with the young SOLDIER boys and me and Kaz did a bit of everything (except flirting). It was a happy day and it made it all the more harder for me to leave the Abbey the next evening.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Beginning of a New Life**

I woke up late the next morning with the mother of all headaches banging my skull.

"Ugh, too much sake wine last night." I mumbled as I swung my feet over the edge of my bed and walked to my window. I drew the curtains apart and saw that it was raining heavily. "Perfect weather for a run." I said to myself and I got changed into a navy blue T-shirt and black track-suit bottoms with two white stripes down either side. I then tied my hair back into a high ponytail, leaving only a couple of strands of my fringe hanging down over my face, the way I like it. I stuck my feet into some trainers and I headed along the corridor, down the stairs and out into the courtyard. I ran to the gates where the guards opened the doors for me.

"Going for a run, Raven?" One of them yelled from the watch tower.

"Perfect weather for it!" I shouted back as I began jogging through the forest, my hair drenched. I went the usual rout to the large training ground where I kept my physical condition near perfect. I wanted to make sure I was in top condition for Maleficent in case she decided to pull something. I never was one to trust people, no matter what they promised. I opened the door to the gym and began my workout. 15 minutes of solid full speed on the treadmill, a bit of weight training, 20 minutes on the cross trainer and half an hour doing push ups and sit ups. Then I ran back to the abbey, the rain getting heavier, and had a shower to warm up and get rid of my wet dog aroma. Sat on my window seat, sketching the view from my room, I heard a knock on the door and Caddie and Kaz walked in.

"Hey guys."

"What cha doing?" Caddie asked as she began nosing at my book.

"Drawing. You?"

"Jak wants us all to go to the shrine of the Almighty dragon. He says he has something for us." Kaz explained.

"OK." I put my things down and followed my friends to the shrine.

"Aah! This rain's gonna totally mess up my hair!" Caddie complained.

"Take an umbrella then, doofus." I said to her.

"I haven't got one!" She snapped.

"Then your hair will have to get wet." I shouted over my shoulder as me and Kaz were already halfway to the shrine door. I heard her grumble, then the splashing of puddles as she legged it past us, to the sheltered door.

"OMG! My hair!" Caddie shrieked when we were changing into our Shrine Maiden uniforms.

"Ugh, get over it! I'm sure Master doesn't care what your hair looks like." Kaz huffed as I fastened the back of her Kimono. But as usual, Caddie wouldn't stop fretting over her hair. Eventually, she found a mirror and tied her long, dark rouge hair into a side ponytail and finished tying her own Kimono. Then we proceeded through to the shrine where Jak was already waiting. All three of us bowed to him in greeting before sitting on our knees.

"I expect you are wondering why I have summoned you here?" We all nodded. "As you know, Raven will be leaving to train in the art of sorcery this evening and I think it is time to give you your life weapons." The three of us were wide eyed and slight gasps escaped our mouths.

"R-really?" Kaz stammered. Life weapons were the weapons that warriors were given to serve and protect them during their life. Then they would be buried with their dead master. A life weapon is normally given at the time that the master turns sixteen and is able to travel between worlds. The fact that we were getting our life weapons before our sixteen years was amazing. Jak pulled out three parcels. One looked like it was a staff or a spear wrapped in purple velvet, the other two were in boxes so we couldn't tell what they could be. Jak presented the velvet clad stick to Caddie. She unravelled it to reveal it to be a Priestess's stave, with bells and prayer beads decorating the gold head which also acted as a spear.

"You are now a fully fledged Priestess, Caddie. You have many more skills to learn, use it wisely. This stave was created by the Capricorn blacksmith prior to your sister's birth, believing that she would wield it, however it seems it has been chosen for you to wield."

"OMG, thank you so much, Master Jak! I can finally perform exorcisms!" She hugged it close on her shoulder. Jak then presented Kaz with the larger of the two boxes. She pried open the box, pulled the green silk cloth to one side and lifted a steel coil which unfurled to be a steel whip.

"This is a new weapon, only three years old. I'm surprised that it has found a home so quickly, but you are a proud Ranger now, Kazzian, use it to care for your father." Kaz nodded, determined. She'd lost her mother to a deadly disease when she was nine and now protected her father who was considered to be mad as he came up with _interesting _inventions and drank hot sauce on its own. Then Jak turned to me and gestured to the last box. I took a deep breath, and opened the lid. Amidst the folds of blue satin were twin weapons. Two black Sais with moonstone encrusted handles. I lifted them, feeling to surprising warmth of the blades, which gave off a dim glow at my touch.

"The dragon sais of balance. Forged in the breath of the Hiryū, made of the melted titanium scales of the Rairyū, cooled by the tears of the Suirō, sharpened by the claws of the Āsudoragon, the moonstones from the heart of the Zen'nō doragon and their lightness was given by the Kūki ryū . These sais help keep the balance of Light and Dark inside of us. Keep them safe, and they will keep you safe." I stared wide eyed at the magnificent weapons. My friends too stared at the weapons.

"But, Master, these are the abbey relics. I couldn't possibly use them! It would be dishonourable!" He put his hand on my shoulder and reassured me.

"They have chosen you as their wielder, Raven, it is your duty to accept them. No dishonour will be given. Now prove to everyone that they made the right choice, Raven Tymari, SOLDIER 1st class." I gaped then I grinned as my status was promoted from SOLDIER 2nd class, to SOLDIER 1st class, the highest rank to achieve. Master Jak presented me with the SOLDIER emblem belt which I gratefully took.

"1st class, Raven!"

"Good going!" My friends smacked my back in congratulations. I looked at the sais and the belt then back up at my master and nodded.

"I will, Master. I'll prove you right!"

"There is one more thing before you pack. Raven, I have the feeling that Maleficent wants something from you. Try not to let her know of your ability to see dreams and hearts." With that, he dismissed us and we headed to my room.

"We've got presents for you too, Raven." Caddie exclaimed as we sat on my rug.

"You didn't have to do that guys."

"Fine we'll keep 'em." Kaz joked as she got out two small wrapped presents. The first one was from Kaz. Inside was a contraption of sorts. Kaz attached it to my wrist and explained what it was. "Me and my dad made it for you. It's a watch with handy things like a screwdriver and a knife." She smiled and pushed a button on the side which made it transform into a torch. She pushed it again and it went back to a watch. I hugged her to show my thanks. The second gift was from Caddie and it was a make-up kit.

"Promise you'll wear it if you meet a cute boy!" She shook my shoulders to make sure I got the message.

"Okay, okay, I will!" Satisfied Caddie stopped shaking me and they helped me pack my things.

* * *

All my things were packed. I was wearing appropriated travelling clothes and my sais were strapped to my thighs. I looked over to my desk and saw a glimmering silver locket the shape of a crescent moon. I walked over and picked it up. I never wore the locket, even though it was very dear to me. I rarely looked at the photo inside either, for it only made my heart burn with sadness. I put the item in my pocket and brought my one bag downstairs where I had dinner and then waited for Maleficent to come. The rain was still heavy as ever when the dark woman was seen walking towards the gate. The whole of Jak's family was there to say goodbye. Caddie, Kaz and Kaz's father were there too. One by one I said goodbye.

"I don't want you to go!" Screamed Ejay. "Who's gonna train me?!" I got down on one knee and said to him,

"I'll be back before you know it. You better keep working hard though. I don't wanna come back and find you let yourself go, okay?" He nodded and I ruffled his hair. I then told Kirin that, "You better take care of Beka, Kirin, or you'll have me to answer to!" He winked and put an arm around his new wife. Then all at once, Mika, Caddie and Kaz all pulled me into a tight hug. "Urgh! Choking... Not breathing!" They released me, tears in all of their eyes. I struggled to hold back my own tears, but I knew never to cry. Finally I made it to my master.

"You've taken care of me since I was seven years old. You trained me, raised me, and I want to thank you before I leave, Master." I went to bow to him but he stopped me.

"I'm no longer your master. You do not have to bow to me." He said in a caring tone. I smiled at him.

"You will always be my master, Jak." I said bowing to him. I then began walking towards Maleficent, who extended her hand to me.

"Come child." I looked back at my home one last time before Maleficent cast a spell which engulfed me in green flames. I yelled out, expecting searing pain, but all I felt was a quick centrifugal pull on my stomach and then a sharp pain in my tail bone as the flames dispersed and I landed on my backside. I was in a dark room with a circular table in the centre that emitted an eerie green glow. There was another flurry of flames next to me and Maleficent appeared next to me.

"Where did you take me, Maleficent!" I demanded. Then there were other voices in the room.

"So this is the SOLDIER?" A very creepy male voice said.

"Holy hydras, it's just a little lassie! A little nymph!" Another male voice sounded.

"This is the great warrior? Ha! I could break her in half with one tentacle!" A female voice cackled.

"You wouldn't even need that! You could just sit on her!" Yet another new male voice said.

"Why you big bag of bugs!" The female voice raged. Before an argument could break out, Maleficent raised her voice.

"Enough!" They fell silent. "I would not have troubled myself to bring her here if she wasn't valuable! Now, give her the serum." Tentacles wrapped around my biceps and pulled me up.

"Hey, what the-" Then I saw Maleficent bring over a long syringe filled with a black substance. He tentacles straightened out my arm and despite me trying to pull back, Maleficent injected the serum into my forearm. "What is that?! What did you inject me with?!" I snapped, holding my now free arms.

"A small level of Darkness to help you cope with this world. The balance of Light and Dark are unstable and since you are used to such a... bright world, we thought it best to make you less noticeable to the Heartless." She said coolly.

"The Heartless?"

"That's right sweet cheeks, the Heartless are all over this world! In fact, we control 'em!" A deep, gruff voice said, annoying me greatly with the reference 'sweet cheeks'. It was a doggish, cattish like man who was very overweight and was about 12 feet tall.

"Pete, would you be so kind as to show, Raven to her new room? And make sure you don't run into _him_." Wondering who she was referring to I was about to ask Maleficent when she answered me.

"You will meet my other student tomorrow morning. Now off to bed. You have much to do." With that 'Pete' lead me out of the room and through a multitude of corridors.

"Where am I?" I eventually asked the fat guy.

"Why, you're in Hollow Bastion castle o' course! Maleficent's place."

"Castle?" I mumbled. "She must be pretty powerful to have a castle." I stated to Pete.

"Ain't no one more powerful than her!" He said proudly. He stopped us at a double door and opened it for me. "Do ya want anything to eat?" He asked me as I placed my bag on the four poser bed.

"No thanks, I had dinner." With that he left me alone and closed the door. I began to unzip my bag when I heard a _click_ that signified my door was now locked. "Great, not only does she inject me with Darkness, but she locks me up like a prisoner too!" I continued unpacking and took in my new room. There was a door leading to a bathroom which had another door which lead to another bedroom which looked lived in. There was a four poster bed in the centre of the room, a fancy dresser, a wardrobe of the same make as the dresser, a mirror, desk and chair also of the same make. My bed had a deep fuchsia bed spread with many pillows and cushions and three blankets. The walls were covered in shelves upon shelves of books and there were no windows. There was also a trapdoor which had a staircase leading to a lounge of sorts with a fireplace, sofa, coffee table, a pile of cushions and blankets and a doorway to a kitchen. I climbed back to my room and got ready for bed.

"Might as well get some sleep." I yawned. I put an alarm clock and a photo of me, Caddie and Kaz on the bedside table and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning when I woke up, I decided to see if the small kitchen below my room had any food to eat. When I found that there was only a stash of protein bars in the cupboards, I decided to just get dressed and head to the room where I arrived. However there were two problems. A, when I was looking for an outfit, I discovered that Caddie had managed to sneak a red skirt and white buttoned shirt into my bag.

"Caddie." I sighed shaking my head. Then I realised that I could use the clothes to give a false impression to the student I was supposed to meet that day. My second problem was that when I was washed and dressed, I found my door was still locked so I picked out a book and sat against the headboard of my bead reading. About thirty minutes later I was distracted by the sound of my door unlocking and a knock on the door. "Who is it?" I called.

"It's Pete." The gruff voice of the fat guy replied. "I got orders to take ya to the throne room." I rolled my eyes and sighed as I shut the book and but it back on the shelf it came from.

"Alright, I'm coming." I opened the door to see him towering over me, his face only just visible over his obese belly. He stared at me with a perplexed look as we walked down the hallways and stairs. Getting tired of his consistent staring I spoke out. "What is it?".

"Huh?"

"You keep staring at me. Why?"

"Well, I err... you didn't seem to be the type that wore that kind o' thing. Y'know a skirt."

"Is it a problem?" I challenged. He jerked straight and shook his head.

"Uh, no! Nope not at all!" The rest of the walk was silent until we got to two grand doors. "Well, err, in ya go! Don't wanna keep Maleficent waitin'." I walked through the doors, giving him a quick nod on the way, and approached my magic teacher who was sat on her dark, shrouded throne, stroking her pet bird.

"Maleficent." I greeted, with another nod.

"You will address me as 'my lady' or 'mistress' and you will bow in the proper way when you greet me."

"With all due respect, I only bow to my master. And I'm afraid that Jak is the only being I will ever call master." Her eyes narrowed at me and she paused stroking her pet. She was about to speak when there was a whooshing sound followed by footsteps. I hid my face with my bangs as the new being walked in.

"You summoned me, Maleficent?" It was a boys voice. Very matured.

"Ah, Riku, you made it." The witch replied.

"Is this her?" I heard him ask. I turned slightly so I could look at him through my hair.

'_I must be dreaming! He's the one from all those dreams!'_


	3. Chapter 3

**The Boy with the Silver Hair**

I remembered the face of the boy who reached out to me in my dreams. And he was stood right in front of me, not four feet from me. His silver hair spiked down to just above his shoulders. His body strong and well toned. I couldn't see his eyes at that moment for it was too dark and my hair was in my face.

"Yes, this is our new arrival." Maleficent indicated to me, snapping me back to life. I was intrigued by the boy. He was my age roughly, yet he seemed to behave so much older, like he had a point to prove.

"This is the person I've been hearing about for weeks? She's just a weak little kid." He scoffed. At that point my curiosity for the boy, Riku, was replaced with bitter annoyance.

'_Is he stupid or what? Can't he see the muscles I possess? How dare he call me weak when he hasn't even fought me? Well if he wants me to be a weak little girl, then that's exactly what I'll be!' _ I thought bitterly.

"I expect you to show her around the castle and look after her while she's here, Riku. Do not let her get lost or hurt and don't be late for meals. Now I shall leave you two to get better acquainted." With that, she disappeared in a flurry of green flames, her bird took flight and swooped close to my head to scare me. Although it didn't really work, I still ducked and covered my head with my hands, letting out a small squeak. I heard him give a small 'Tch' and smirked to myself as I was convincing. I stood up straight and kept my face hidden still, while he put his hand on his hip, relaxing slightly.

"So, guess you have to tell me a bit about yourself if I'm gonna be babysitting you." He grumbled. "What's your name?"

"Raven Tymari. You?"

"Riku Isumay." I suppressed a snigger. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, but isn't that a girl's name?" At this, his fists clenched showing that he was annoyed.

"My name's spelt with one K actually, so it's a boy's name!" He retorted.

"Oh, alright. If you say so." He relaxed and turned toward the door.

"Well, c'mon, I better show you around." I quickly jogged after him and we both went on a tour of the castle.

"So, how old are you, Snow Top?" I asked him when we were down the hall from the throne room.

"What did you just call me?" He questioned.

"Snow Top. Y'know, 'cause of your hair colour." I replied honestly.

"Yeah, well, don't call me that! My name's Riku. And I'm fifteen by the way."

"Cool. I'm fourteen. Fifteen in August." He nodded to show he heard me. "So... What's it like here, Snow Top?" He grumbled at the sound of the nickname.

"Hard work. Probably too hard for someone like you." I halted.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I snapped.

"A girl wouldn't be able to do this kind of work. You whine every time you have to get your hands dirty." He explained. "It's dangerous here. The Heartless are everywhere and I know a girl like you could never handle them. I bet you don't even know how to fight do you? You'll probably just run away with your tail between your legs." Outraged at this, I shouted at him,

"You are such a SEXIST! You don't even know anything about me yet and you already think I'm a helpless little girly girl! Well I've got news for you! I can kick your ass any day!" With that, I stormed past him, down the corridor, leaving him staring after me.

"H-hey, wait! You can't wander around by yourself!" He chased after me and tried to snatch my wrist but I quickly manoeuvred out of his reach and bolted it through the corridors, him close behind.

"Oh yeah?! I'd rather take my chances with Heartless than hang around with a sexist like you!" I shouted over my shoulder, running through a door and outside onto huge platforms. I stopped briefly to take in the surroundings of the world I was on. The sky was clouded over, there was nothing but rocky plains beyond the castle. The castle itself was covered in giant gears and pulleys and there was the sound of rushing water from below in a natural bow which the castle hovered over. However my stop was short lived as I heard Riku come up from behind me, panting.

"Don't even think of running! I've got you cornered!" I turned around, pretending to be shy again.

"Oh!" I said in a shocked tone. He began to walk slowly towards me and extended his hand to me.

"Now, c'mon and behave. There's nowhere to run." I stepped back, towards the edge of the platform I was on and smirked.

"Really? Well what's a poor girl to do?" With that I back flipped off of the edge, grabbed onto the undercut of the ledge and swung myself back up, to where Riku had predictably run to the edge after me. I planted one foot on his head and projected myself over him, landing behind him and speeding off towards another platform.

"What the- How did you?" I heard him stutter as I left him utterly bewildered. Recomposing himself, he chased after me again and we ran all over the castle. Inside and outside. As I was running along another platform, I saw that I was coming to a dead end. "I got you now!" I heard him shout as we neared the tall wall. I immediately sprinted at full speed towards the wall and ran halfway up it before ricocheting between the wall ahead and the wall to the left. I made it to the top and carried on running, but I looked over my shoulder briefly to see that he was no longer after me. I assumed he was unable to climb the wall so I stopped and walked back to the edge of the wall and saw that he was no longer at the bottom.

"Where did you go?" I asked myself quietly. Suddenly from nowhere, a hand locked around my forearm and pulled me into a boy's chest. I looked up and saw that Riku had somehow managed to appear behind me in the time between me scaling the wall and looking back. Looking up at his face I noticed his eyes for the first time. A shimmering colour of bright teal lit up his irises and not only did I see tropical seas and palm trees in his eyes, I saw a vision of his heart. A pulsing sensation overtook me and my mental state left the world.

'_There was a boy with silver hair and teal eyes. About five or six years of age. Smiling as he played with another boy, his age. This boy had spiky brown hair and eyes as blue as the sky in spring. They were playing knights together as they were hitting each other with wooden swords. Then the two little boys were joined by a young girl with lilac eyes and maroon hair, carrying two bunches of flowers and handing each to the boys. Then the trio morphed into older versions of themselves. The silver haired boy I recognised as the Riku I'd met, the brown haired boy's hair had grown spikier and the lilac eyed girl had shorter hair._

"_I'm in his heart's memory database." I stated as I directed my shining white body to another part of Riku's heart. I found my way to his emotional database and I saw the colours red, for anger, blue, for sadness, and another emotion, grey in colour, which I didn't recognise.'_

I returned back to reality, Riku was still lecturing me about how he was obviously better than any 'girl' and hadn't noticed the mental vacancy. Not listening to any of his rambling, I let out a tiny chuckle as it reminded me of my old friend, Ace, from the harbour orphanage, who always lectured me after I'd go on a runaway adventure.

"What's so funny?" He demanded, fiercely.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I replied coolly.

"I guess you're not as much of a wimp as I first thought you were. You're pretty fast." He said, dropping the subject.

"Not bad yourself, Snow Top." With that, he began leading me through the castle again.

"Humph, great, now look at what you did, we're halfway across the castle, it's gonna take forever for us to get to the hall now. Why did you even leg it? It's not like there's anywhere to go from here." He inquired.

"To see if you could live up to your statement of boys over girls in everything. A sort of test if you like. And I have to say, you did better than I thought you would. You caught me after all." I smirked.

"Well aren't you modest?" He said sarcastically. I shrugged it off.

"Oh and just so you know, don't try to become close buddies with me. I don't plan on making unnecessary connections while I'm here." I said in a monotone voice, taking my arm from his grip and walking past him.

"That's something we can agree on." He muttered back in an even tone as he walked along side me. I turned to him.

"You got something against female friends?" I inquired.

"No. Actually one of my best friends _is_ a girl. It's just that I'm looking for her and my other friend. I don't want to get distracted with other people and I don't replace my old friends with substitutes." He said coolly.

"You lost your friends? Sorry, but how exactly do you lose two _people_? Unless they're pixies or something."

"Of course they're people! Our world was destroyed if you must know and we were scattered. I'm trying to regroup with them." He hissed irritably. I stopped dead.

"Your world... destroyed? So all of your friends, family, neighbours, are gone? Sorry. I guess, you're here by force not by choice, huh?"

"Obviously. Ugh, why am I even sharing this with you?" He asked himself.

'_Maybe I should be a bit sociable to him. If he's all alone right now, I might as well show a little sympathy. After all, I'm all alone too.' _I thought to myself as we neared the gardens.

"Hey! Kiddos!" It was Pete and he was running towards us from a corridor to our left. As he ran he tripped over one of his large feet and began rolling towards us like a bowling ball. We jumped either side as he crashed into the wall, dazed slightly. Riku rolled his eyes and face palmed.

'_Is this guy for real?! He's such an idiot!' _He got up holding his back and leaning one hand against the wall, which now had a large dent where he'd collided with it.

"What is it, Pete?" Riku said, irritably.

"Maleficent said it's time for dinner. You gotta get down ta the dinin' room, pronto." He said, standing upright and walking back the way he'd come.

"Is he always such a buffoon?" I asked Riku, quietly so Pete couldn't hear, as we walked after him.

"Pretty much. I've no idea why someone like Maleficent would hire him." He whispered back.

"Maybe they've got some sort of pact with each other?" I suggested.

"Who knows? Who cares?" He said flatly. We arrived at the dining hall and saw the long table with nine chairs, six of them filled. At the head of the table was Maleficent, proving further that she had the run of the joint. To her right, Pete took his seat. To her left, a tall, thin man with a goatee, wearing Arabian attire was sat with a snake staff resting against his chair. He had a very creepy look about him and very bored as well. Next to him was a big sack-like thing, with a mouth and eyes torn into its 'head'. He was also very creepy looking and very fat. There was an empty chair next to him and next to that chair sat a grey/blue man with pointed teeth, blue fire for hair, a pointed down nose and wearing black and grey Greek robes which ended in grey smoke. He stared at me, grinning horribly, making my spine tingle. Riku sat down next to Pete, in between Pete and a fat octopus woman with short white hair, lilac skin and a seashell necklace. Next to her sat what looked to be a ship captain of sorts, in a fancy red coat and feathered hat, a curled black moustache and curled black hair to match. On his left arm, instead of a hand, there was a deadly looking hook.

"Please, dear child, sit and enjoy the meal." Maleficent said as she saw that I was still stood up. I looked to where there was the only empty seat. Between the sack creature and the fiery haired man. I swallowed and made my way over to my seat.

"Well if isn't the little nymph?" The blue man sat next to me said with a creepy chuckle.

"I don't think we've been introduced." I said, trying not to punch his staring face away from me.

"Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Hey there, nice to meet you, how you doing, kid?" He said putting one arm around my shoulders, making me extremely uncomfortable. He then lifted one of my hands and went to kiss it. But then to my brief relief, I was pulled away.

"Why in Boogie town, would she wanna touch your scabby lips, when she can hang with the Boogie man?" It was the sack thing and he was trying to pull me into his belly.

"Enough!" Maleficent ordered. "I will not have my colleagues, bickering over my student! She is not a toy for you to play with!" With that, Oogie Boogie released me and I was able to start eating again. I looked up from my plate at Riku who had sniggered at me and shot a death look at him. Much to my entertainment though, the octopus woman kept sneaking her tentacles onto Riku's shoulder and around his middle, making him shudder and constantly look irritated and uncomfortable.

'_Ha, serves you right.'_ I smiled to myself.

"Raven, I don't believe you've been introduced to my colleagues, have you?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Well, you've met Pete, Oogie Boogie and Hades. The gentleman on my left is Jafar, the woman next to Riku is Ursula and the man next to Ursula is Captain Hook. They are helping me in my affairs, as is Riku." She said, glancing over to the silver haired boy, who continued to look down slightly at her hard gaze.

"Maleficent... Sorry, Ma'am, why is it that I was chosen as your student? I mean, I've never shown any signs of magic in my life so why choose me?" I inquired, trying to get some of the gaze off of Riku for a while. Maleficent, intrigued at the inquiry, smiled, though it was a cold smile.

"I see great strength and potential in you. Though you have not shown signs of magic, deep within you, there is some form of power." While I thought on this, the plates vanished and everyone got out of their seats. "It is time for us to retire to our chambers. You two may entertain yourselves in your quarters. I suggest you be rested." Maleficent finished as she too stood and made her way to the door. Still sat at my place, I couldn't shake off a feeling of... what? Was it fear? Maybe.

"Hey!" It was Riku and he was at the door waiting with it half open. "You coming or not?" I nodded and made my way over to him. He led me to my room and where I thought he was going to shut the door and got to his own room, he walked into my room with me!

"Umm, Riku. Is there a reason you're in my room with me?" He rolled his eyes.

"Relax, I'm not sleeping with you, my room's right through there." He pointed to the bathroom door, indicating he owned the room next door.

"Well at least it's you and not someone like that Hades creep or that sack thing." I said relived. He tilted his head slightly. "What?" I asked noticing the action.

"I've never seen your eyes."

"Pardon?"

"I haven't seen your eyes yet. Your hair's always been in the way." I looked at him puzzled.

"Why do you wanna see my eyes?"

"Tells a lot about a person." I smiled and walked closer to him. I looked up at him and brushed my bangs behind my ears so he could see my dark brown eyes. The ones that pine forests and pools of chocolate could be seen in. His own teal eyes widened as I stared up, holding a sturdy gaze.

"So, what can you tell about me?" I asked.

"You're a private person. I can't read anything in your eyes. So that tells me, you're very private. Can't say more than that." He cracked a tiny smile and turned around to walk to his own room.

"You're a confused person." He stopped. "And you're a curious person. But you're also a strong person." I said.

"Oh really? Hehe." He chuckled and continued walking.

'_Yes, you certainly are a confused heart, Snow Top.'_ And I went to rest up for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Training Begins

"_Raven. _Raven. RAVEN!" I sat bolt upright in my bed and looked around for the person who woke me up. It was Riku.

"Bloody hell, no need to shout." I said resting my head on one hand.

"You didn't wake up. And there are no windows to let light in." He replied casually. I looked over at the clock on the wall and saw it was 5:30 in the morning. I grabbed one of my pillows, put it over my face and fell back into my nest of cushions and blankets, letting out a long groan. "C'mon, sleepy head. Get up." Riku ordered, nudging me with what I assumed to be his foot. I grunted in reply. He then began tugging the duvet from my hands, leaving me in just my pyjamas, a baggy blue T-shirt and loose running shorts. I didn't take notice and gathered the cushions so they kept me warm instead. "Man, you're stubborn." Riku sighed as I heard him walking around to the other side of the bed. My mattress moved a little bit and I heard him say, "Heave your ass." And he tipped the mattress so I rolled onto the floor.

"Wah!" He put the mattress back into place and walked back around to where I was now lying in a mess of cushions and bedding. I looked up at him evilly. "I do _not _like being woken up at 5:30 in the MORNING!" I said raising my voice in annoyance.

"Yeah well, would you rather Maleficent make you unable to sleep? Thought not, so stop whining." I sat up and with a long yawn, I got to my feet and walked over to the wardrobe. I was looking through the clothes for my training gear when I realized Riku hadn't left the room.

"Do you mind?" I said irritably.

"Mind what?"

"I need to get dressed. And frankly I'd rather you weren't here when I'm doing so."

"Oh, right. Yeah, sorry. I'll just be outside your door." With that he slid out of the room and closed the door behind him.

'_Honestly, boys can be so dim sometimes.'_ I found my training clothes and geared up. My dark grey tank top which stopped just short of my belly button, my skin tight, black training shorts, knee high, black, lace up, leather boots, black fingerless gloves and attached to my thighs were my Dragon Sais. I also put on a long grey overcoat and tied my hair back into the short ponytail with the couple of strands hanging over my face. I looked over to the silver locket beside the picture of me, Kaz and Caddie and I picked it up, putting it in my glove.

"Are you done yet?" I heard Riku call through the door, obviously low on patience.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I opened the door and was met with a _very_ impatient Riku. "Yeesh, keep your hair on."

"You get breakfast after you see Maleficent in the training grounds. I suppose I better take you there, seeing as you don't know the way."

"Duh." I expressed as I followed him to the training grounds.

"It's just through there. I gotta go to another section." He said when we arrived at some sliding metal doors, before walking in another direction.

"_Enter Combatant – Raven Tymari" _A mechanised voice spoke as I entered the stone arena. _"Profile – Age 14 – Height – 5,9 – Weight – 10.8 Stone – Profession: SOLDIER 1__st__ Class"_

"What the? How does it know all of this?" I muttered to myself.

"_Begin Program 1572 – Commencing exercise in 3... 2... 1 – Begin!"_ With that a bunch of Soldier, Neoshadow and Hook-Bat Heartless appeared and attacked me. In the space of four seconds, I'd dodged out of the way, drawn my Sais and dispatched a Hook-Bat Heartless. From the corner of my eye, I saw a Soldier and two Neoshadows approaching my back. I quickly bent over backwards, avoiding the Soldier's claws and slashing through its middle, making it dissipate in moments. I then levered myself onto my hands and back onto my feet, plant each foot into both Neoshadows. Infuriated by this, the two Heartless' lashed out at my legs, making me leap out of the way. In mid-air, I grabbed a Hook-Bat and threw it at one of the Neoshadows, killing both creatures at once. When I landed I stabbed one soldier in the neck and a Neoshadow in between the eyes. The five remaining heartless included the Neoshadow I hadn't killed earlier, three Hook-Bats and one Soldier. I stood opposite the creatures of Darkness and gripped my weapons ever tighter. Then a smile crept onto my lips as I charged forwards, ducking below a Hook-Bat to slaughter the Soldier and then without even turning around, I threw my arm back and skewered the Hook-Bat. The two Hook-Bats still flying were nearing me, and as they began circling me, I locked my sais into their hooks and began twirling around, releasing them so that they crashed into the arena wall. And as the Neoshadow lashed out at me from in front of me, I jumped and barrel rolled over it, ran up the wall, twisted in the air, raised both sais and brought them down, into the Heartless' shoulders. As it dissipated, I stood upright, wiped my sais on my overcoat sleeve and walked to wards the exit of the arena, twirling my sais between my fingers.

"_Exercise complete – Begin next sequence"_ The computerized voice spoke again, making me stop. There was a sound like wind blowing through a pinhole and a dark cloud hung over the arena. I turned my head to see a gigantic Heartless standing in the centre of the arena. A Darkside Heartless. Standing at about fifty feet tall, its dreadlocked hair hiding most of its face, only the hollow yellow eyes showing, and a heart shaped hole in its chest. I threw my sais up in the air, tore off my overcoat, turned to face the beast and caught the weapons in my hands again.

"Hello, Beastie." I smirked. It roared loudly and brought it's claws down to crush me. I leapt back, out of the way, then jumped forward, onto its hand and ran all the way up its long arm to its head, making it flail around, trying to squash this annoying fly.

'_Starlight Smash Down!' _I jumped up, over the Heartless' head and performed a complex and strong series of kicks on the monster's head, making it howl in pain as it tried desperately to swat the wasp that was stinging it.

"Missed me. Missed me again." I said flashing in and out of its reach. Then, out of nowhere, one of the dreadlocks swung at me and caught my stomach, sending me flying into the wall. I grumbled as I got to my feet. I looked up at where I'd contacted the wall and saw the perfect outline of my body, dented into the brickwork. "That wasn't very friendly." I said cracking my neck. "Time for round two." I charged at it again, going for the legs this time.

'_Crescent Luna Fury!' _My sais began to glow softly as I let out a stampede of blade attacks. The creature fell to its knees in agony and slouched back like it was ready to fade. I stopped my attacks when the glow of its eyes blinked out, and began walking away again. However, the creature was not yet dead and produced a crackling energy. At the sound of the energy, I turned around just in time to see bolts of lightning racing towards me. I froze in fear at the yellow, spiking electricity and it hit me square in the chest.

"Agh!" I was sent soaring into the air and landed on the cold, hard concrete with a sickening thud. "Ugh, Ow!" I complained, irritated. I opened one eye and saw another wave of lightning shooting towards me. Again it struck me, in my chest, powering a surge of electricity into my body, burning me, causing me to writhe and twitch against my will. Once the attack had stopped, I curled into myself, spikes of lightning leaping in and out of me every few seconds, my limbs still twitching.

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As I watched from the concealed balcony in the arena, Raven showed a completely different side to her. When I met her the day before, she was over emotional, cocky even. Granted she was athletic, but I'd assumed that was all there was to her. But the display she was putting on at that moment proved exactly the opposite. She wasn't over emotional. In fact she seemed to show almost no emotion at all. She wasn't cocky as such either, but she was confident in her skills and dispatched the group of Soldiers, Hook-Bats and Neoshadows with ease. The way she moved to gain the upper hand, was almost like watching a dancer perform. Within five minutes, the battle was over, and she stood tall as the victor. Wiping her weapons on her coat sleeve, she made her way over to the exit, but then Maleficent pressed a button on the computer, engaging the next stage of the sequence. The sky went dark with black clouds and from the swirling depths, a Darkside emerged. Raven, noticing her new opponent, stopped walking as the computer spoke again. She then threw her weapons up into the air, while she de-robed herself of her coat, turned on her heal and caught her weapons again. I stared at her figure in disbelief. Her arms and legs were far more muscular than I'd first thought and where I could see her stomach, there was either a four pack or possibly a six pack. Where I'd thought she was flat as a board, I saw that she was far from it as, instinctively, my eyes were drawn to her chest. She swiftly dodged the Darkside's enormous hand and began running up its arm to attack its head. For a moment I could've sworn her eyes changed colour from brown to blue and back again, before she began her rapid onslaught of aerial kicks. She looked like victory was within her reach when one of the Darkside's dreadlocks hit her in the stomach and sent her sailing into the arena wall. I winced in sympathy as I saw the imprint left in the rock after she'd slid to the floor. I looked at Maleficent, expecting her to call the monster off but she merely smiled in pleasure. None of her colleagues spoke out or did anything either. They seemed just as pleased as she was that the girl had been struck down. I turned back to the fight scene and to my disbelief, Raven had gotten to her feet and was now attacking the legs, her weapons glowing softly. It fell to its knees and she walked away, leaving it to die on its own. But it wasn't prepared to die without ripping out her heart. It raised its arms up to the dark clouds and with one swift movement of its arms, lightning bolts hurtled towards the warrior. Turning she was met with the full force in her stomach and she was knocked down again. In the instant she was met with the spell, I saw a look of fear flash across her face briefly, though I was sure she could've dodged the spell if she'd wanted. Still not satisfied, the Heartless brought down another electrical storm, straight into her chest. The unrelenting energy twisted and fried her body, making her yell out in pain. Her cries were the most heart wrenching sound I'd ever heard and still, Maleficent and her lackeys still did nothing but grin, entertained. As I looked back down at Raven, I saw a silver object skid across the ground, to the Heartless' foot and miraculously, Raven, bruised, bleeding and exhausted, clambered to her feet, fury alight in her eyes.

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I opened one eye again after the second electrical attack and saw my silver locket at the Heartless' feet. Seeing me stare at it, the Darkside purposely stepped on the trinket. Fury welled up inside of me and I was powered by a new drive. The battle wasn't a joke anymore. It was personal. With difficulty, electric sparks and no small amount of pain, I got to my feet and gripped my Sais tightly.

"Nobody, walks over _my _family." I muttered, wiping some blood from my nose. "YOU'RE DEAD!" I yelled as I charged at the giant beast, my sais a shine with white light. They gave me strength to bring the Darkside down. I concentrated on the heart shaped hole in its chest and realised that that was where I needed to strike. To the ordinary eye, it would seem to be an empty hole, but to my eye, I saw the pink heart glowing within the creature. I pinpointed my aim, leapt into the air and as I passed through the Heartless' chest, I made a cross slash. I landed on one knee and stood when I heard the great thud of the fallen Darkside I walked over to its head, knelt down and stabbed its neck with. "You should never have crawled out of the Darkness." With that I dragged the weapon across its neck, finishing it once and for all. I then finally made my way over to the exit, picking up my locket on the way. As I bent down to grab my overcoat though, my eyes were drawn to a point in the arena wall where the rock was different. "I hope that provided sufficient entertainment for you, Maleficent!" I said casually as I walked out of the arena.

'_Sequence complete'_ I heard the computer say after I'd left the arena.

"For goodness sake, doesn't that thing ever can it?"

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I was walking along a corridor, no idea where I was, but aiming to get back to my room.

"Hey! Wait up!" It was Snow Top. "Where are you going?"

"Back to my room."

"Why?"

"Do you really think I'm gonna stay in these clothes all day when they're sweaty and bloody? No thanks."

"Fair enough. Anyway, I thought you might need this." He held out a small bottle filled with green liquid. A Potion.

"Thanks, but I don't really need it. I do need some painkillers though, my head feels like it's cracking open." Riku put the Potion away and moved a couple of locks of hair from my face.

"That's probably because there actually is a crack in your skull. I suggest you do take the Potion." I looked at the small vial of healer and reluctantly gulped it down.

"Urgh, gross." I grumbled. "So what now?"

"Breakfast, then we have to prepare to go to another world." He replied flatly. "You'll be training and travelling with me." He added as he lead me to the dining hall for breakfast.

"Aren't Maleficent and the others joining us? For breakfast?" I asked as we walked into the empty room.

"No, they've all already eaten. We only eat together on some evenings. So don't worry, you'll rarely be harassed by Hades and Oogie."

"I wasn't worried." I replied coolly, sitting down opposite Riku. "Uncomfortable, definitely, but not worried."

"Right. Y'know, I've never seen anyone fight like that before. Where did you learn to do all that stuff?" I stopped eating my cereal and smiled slightly.

"I thought you said girls were crap fighters?" He nearly choked on his toast at having his own words thrown back at him.

"Well I-uh, um... I've grown up in a world where girls are bad fighters, so I-um, assumed things were the same in other worlds, so-"

"So really you have no idea about what life is like on other worlds, correct? Understandable, the worlds have been unconnected for centuries and only a handful have the technology to travel between worlds. My world happens to be one of them, though we rarely use it because it is sparse. It's only available to SOLDIER 1st class rank, like me, who are sixteen and over. There are also other people who can travel worlds, as long as they're over sixteen and have received their Life Weapons."

"Life Weapons?" I put my sais on the table in front of him.

"The weapons that choose us to be their wielders until we die. Then they are buried with us unless we write in our wills that we want them to become relics or even be reused by someone in the future. Life Weapons protect and serve the wielder through any battle. They are only presented to warriors once they turn sixteen and are the legal age to travel worlds alone."

"So why do you have them, I thought you were only fourteen?"

"I don't really know why myself. But three weapons chose their masters on the day I left. Me and my two friends, Kaz and Caddie. It was like the weapons knew we would need them before we turned sixteen. I certainly need them. And back to what I said about lifestyles on different worlds earlier, in my world, there are colleges where those who choose to or are chosen to, learn how the art of battle. The college I went to is actually an Abbey, where monks and priestesses worship the Protectors and pilgrims pay homage to fallen warriors as well as the Protectors. But the Abbey also teaches just about any form of battle you could think of. Karate, Kung Fu, SOLDIER, Rangers, Holy positions, street fighting and they can teach anyone how to use any type of weapon."

"Sounds fancy. You must really love it there." He said biting his toast.

"Hm, yeah, I do." There was a long silence between us, in which, I stirred the bowl of now soggy cereal, not actually eating anything. "Well, I guess I better go change." I said getting up and walking to the door.

"Do you know the way?" Riku asked, standing up abruptly, obviously not wanting to be left alone.

"Yeah, I should be okay. Though I don't know where to go afterwards."

"Don't worry, we're not in the arena. We're in the gym where there's more equipment. I'll come and get you in a few minutes."

"Okay, see ya in a bit then." And with that I left the room and after taking two wrong turns, I finally made it to my room. _'Why did I just share all that information with him? I barely know the guy.'_ I rummaged through my wardrobe again and found my usual outfit. A red tank top that came just above my stomach again, blue denim skinny jeans, red arm warmers with blue lining, a pair of brown leather gloves, a red leather belt holding the jeans, my SOLDIER belt around my waist, light brown leather boots that came over my knees and with a slight heel, and a right shoulder guard with black straps that came across my chest and over my left shoulder to reconnect to the metal guard. With it all laid out on my still bedding-less bed, I began undressing, starting with my shorts, to the jeans, belt and boots. But as I was halfway through changing my top, I heard someone approaching and without time to say 'Don't come in!' or hide my bra, who should burst into the room impatiently as always, but Riku?

"Hey are you nearly d-" He realised what he'd walked in on and froze, his hand tight on the door handle and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. I too was frozen to the spot, my clean top hanging loosely in my hand. Then, finally regaining myself, I brought my hands up to my chest to hide my underwear.

"GET OUT!" I shouted, throwing one of my pillows at him, hard and forcefully.

"I'm sorry! I swear I didn't know!" He said hiding behind the door.

"JUST GET OUT ALREADY!" I yelled again, throwing another pillow at him, to which he closed the door. '_Man that was awkward. I can't believe he just walked in on me.'_

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I shut the door quickly, to prevent any more pillow assaults and sank to the floor, the image of her half naked image imprinted in my mind.

'_There'll be no living with her after this. But I have to admit, she has got one hot body.'_


	5. Chapter 5

**The Land of Wonder**

Coming out of my room, still fastening my shoulder guard, I noticed Riku was sat on the floor, a red tint still on his cheeks. When he realised I had come out, he got to his feet and avoided looking at me, the red tint becoming more vibrant.

"Ugh, grow up. It was an accident." I said, patting his head lightly, to which he snapped out of his embarrassed state. "Just remember to knock next time."

"Y-Yeah, I will." He stuttered, clearly still embarrassed.

"So, where're we going?"

"Well, we're not leaving until tomorrow morning, but we've got some preparation to do in the gym. So I guess I should show you there, right?"

"Got it in one."

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"Well this is it. Not much I know, but a lot of the stuff here is out dated and useless." Riku explained as we stood in the gymnasium. There were two training dummies in the back left corner, some parallel bars for triceps-dips, bench press, legs curls, pull up bars and dumbbells. There was nothing electrical and most of the equipment seemed to be solely for building up muscles.

"Yeah, you're right, there's nothing here for running, which is kind of a downer."

"You enjoy running?"

"Yeah, I mean I run every day. Especially when it rains."

"I use to race my friend, Sora, back home. And Kairi would referee." He said actually smiling for once. There was a small silence between us which was broken when I struck out my fist and it collided with Riku's gut. "Agh! What the hell was that for!?" He yelled.

"For walking in on me when I was changing."

"I thought you said you were over that!"

"I am. But you didn't honestly think I'd let it slide without payback did you?" I said smugly flexing my fingers with my eyes closed. He couldn't come up with an answer, so continued to hold his stomach. I opened my eyes and walked over to a hanging bar, which I grabbed and began pulling my body up and easing it back down. "So what do we do in other worlds?" I asked as I swung my legs up and began dangling sit-ups.

"We have to retrieve something. A Princess of Heart. I don't know why, so don't ask me." Riku replied in his usual monotone 'couldn't care less' voice.

"The Princesses of Heart?" I repeated.

"Yeah, they're-"

"I know who they are! Seven young girls with hearts of pure light. I wonder what it's like inside one of those hearts."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, just a fantasy." I said, recovering from almost letting slip that I could see inside hearts. _'How could I have been so careless? I almost let slip my secret. There's something about Riku that makes me want to tell him. Something in my gut that's telling me something's going to happen in the future and that he needs to know. I'll wait a little longer before I say anything though.' _I thought to myself as I continued to exercise my abs.

"You didn't seem the type to fantasize." Riku commented as he started a work out on the bench press.

"What do you mean?" I inquired, stopping my own exercise.

"Well, you seem, I dunno..."

"Spit it out, Snow Top."

"You only seem to believe what you see. You're really serious and you almost seem, heartless when you fight." That was it. That was all it took to snap something in my heart. I was upon him in moments, my foot pressing down on the weight he was previously lifting, pinning him down.

"Let's get one thing straight, Snow Top! Don't you _ever_ compare me to those foul creatures! They've killed millions of innocent people and consumed countless hearts! I fight only those who threaten the innocent and kill only beings of Darkness who cannot be saved! So if you dare to compare me to that kind of filth again, you'll find yourself in a whole new world of pain!" I growled, making my point even more vivid.

"Geez, I wasn't calling you _a_ Heartless, I was saying you fight like you've no emotion or mercy." He defended, pushing my foot off of the weight.

"I have no mercy for those who don't show mercy themselves." I said heading for the door.

"Hey, where are you going!" Riku demanded, getting off the bench press and walking after me. Just as I expected. I stamped my foot, sending a shockwave in his direction and causing him to falter and fall to the ground.

"For a walk! Don't even think about getting me until it's time to eat dinner!" I shouted over my shoulder.

"What about lunch?"

"I said _dinner!_" I snapped back.

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'_Honestly, the sheer nerve of him! How can anyone compare a human being to a Heartless? And his emotions are messed up. One minute he acts like he couldn't care less about anything and the next, he's being concerned for any injury I may have received yesterday. He is seriously confusing.'_ I thought as I walked through the hallways, no clue as to where I was going, but taking note of my surroundings so I could find my way back if need be. A little while later, I found myself sitting on one of the many steam pipes that wove through the castle, dangling my legs off the edge and playing with the silver locket between my fingers.

"Maybe I was over reacting in the gym? I should probably apologise for knocking him over." I said to myself in regret. '_I know that he hadn't called me and actual Heartless, but it still made me angry. The things they do, and just on instinct alone, no conscience or empathy or anything. But I sympathize, they don't have their own hearts after all.'_ I slipped the locket into a pocket and slid off of the pipe, landing gracefully on the brick floor and putting my hands in my jean pockets.

"Well, well. I didn't expect to see _you_ here." I turned 90 degrees to side glance at Jafar who was skulking towards me. "Shouldn't you be in the gym? Or with the boy?"

"I was allowed a small break. Shouldn't _you_ be with Maleficent?" I challenged. Jafar hadn't said much to me before, but I still saw that he wasn't to be trusted.

"My business is no concern of yours." He said rather pompously.

"Well seeing as I'll actually be doing your dirty work for you, yes, your business is my business." I retorted casually. He raised one of his thin eyebrows in disapproval before leaning closer to my ear.

"I would strongly advise you to keep your tongue around here. You wouldn't want Maleficent getting angry. Now why don't you run along and get out of my sight?" He whispered coldly in my ear. He straightened up and continued walking. I stared after him, my eyes narrow, before walking in the opposite direction.

'_I guess I should go and say sorry to Riku for getting mad.' _I thought to myself, putting my hands in my pockets. I thankful for my sharp memory as I remembered how to get back to the gym. But to my disappointment and great annoyance, Riku was nowhere to be found in the small hall. "I hope I can find my way back to our rooms. Maybe he's waiting there?" I said to myself. To my relief I found my way to my room and to my greater relief, I found to Riku, who was sat on the sofa in the lounge below our rooms. He heard me come down the stair case and glanced over his shoulder briefly before he began to get up. "Wait. I wanted to apologize for earlier." I said, somewhat timidly, which wasn't at all like me. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did when no offense was intended. And I'm sorry if you're hurt in any way from the shockwave." I rubbed my neck awkwardly. He got up and turned to me.

"Apology accepted." He said, his face and tone indifferent. I held out my hand for him to shake. He stared at it, a hint of surprise on his face, before he took it and we firmly shook. "Y'know, that really hurt my butt." He said with a slight chuckle.

"Again, sorry for that." He nudged my shoulder lightly.

"It's okay. Oh and by the way, you might wanna get ready for Wonderland. We're leaving tonight, not tomorrow morning." He advised. I nodded and made my way back up the stairs.

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After a nice refreshingly cold shower, I was sat at my desk in my towel, drying my hair. I'd already laid out another set of clothing, identical to what I was wearing during the day. While brushing out the knots in my ebony locks, I heard the slight creak of the trapdoor.

"What have I told you about knocking before coming into my room?" I asked, my tone indifferent.

"Just passing through to my room, sheesh." I heard Riku sigh as he made his way through the bathroom. I tied my hair back and changed into my outfit. "Are you ready yet?" Riku called from his room.

"Yeah." I replied, as he walked into my room.

"Let's go." He lead me to Maleficent's meeting room, neither of us making any attempt at conversation.

"It's about time you two got here. Stand on the table." Maleficent ordered. We obeyed and got onto the stone table. A bright green light flared up and the familiar feeling of teleportation rushed through my gut, making me clench my eyes shut. There was a hard impact on my ribs and a loud thud not too far from me. I opened my eyes to a bizarre room. Everything was enlarged and in the wrong places. By that I meant there was furniture on the ceiling! I got up off if my stomach and rubbed my ribs where they'd impacted on the floor. Or was it the ceiling? About five feet away from me was Riku. And I had to stifle an enormous snigger when I saw what he was wearing. A dark green tail coat with patches here and there, striped trousers with different coloured legs, a lilac shirt, orange waist coat, black shoes, odd socks and a blue top hat with the price tag still attached to the rim.

"What're you laughing at?" He chuckled. "You ought to take a look in the mirror." He gestured to a wall mirror which I could see myself in. I had to have a double take. My Hair was held in place with a red Alice band with a tiny white and red top hat. My neck was decorated with a white collar tied with a red ribbon in the shape of a heart, my arms were clothed in white gloves, also with red heart ribbons, my upper body was clad in a red, thin strapped corset with little diamond buttons, whereas my lower half was wearing a red layered and frilled skirt patterned with white hearts and diamonds. My shins and feet were dressed in white stockings with the red heart ribbons and red dolly shoes. My face was stamped with a red heart in my left cheek and a small heart on my lips.

"A DRESS?! Oh, c'mon really? And what's with the face paint? And all the hearts?" I wiped the lipstick off of my lips and failed to remove the heart on my cheek.

"Well at least your clothes match up, unlike mine." Riku pointed out. I looked in the mirror again and realised the amount of cleavage that was showing.

"Is this world perverted or something?! My boobs look like they're about to pop out!" I cried in disgust. I noticed Riku was staring at me. Whether he was staring at me or my chest I didn't really care. "And you're just as bad! Quit staring at me!" I snapped at him. He smirked and began making his way to a painting on the wall. It showed a forest. Then without warning, Riku jumped through the picture and appeared in it. His painted self gestured for me to follow. Cautiously, I pressed my fingers against the canvas. They melted into the image and my arm followed. Then I felt two hands take hold of my arm and gently pull me through to the real forest. The trees were just as bizarre as the furniture in the previous room. They all seemed to have faces and they had holes providing passage through their trunks. The sky was dark and the stars shone brightly. "How did we-?" I began.

"This world isn't like most. It's like it changes whenever it wants and if what I've heard is correct, the inhabitants are just a bizarre as their home." Riku answered.

"So things aren't always what they seem." I concluded. He nodded.

"It's pretty late. I think we should rest for the night and start searching in the morning."

"Whatever you say, Snow Top. Or should I say top hat?" I teased and smirked at his annoyed facial expression. I climbed into one of the strange trees and made a suitable bed for myself in one of the leafy branches.

"What're you doing up there?" Riku asked as I made myself comfy.

"Going to bed. You should come up here too, there's less chance of you getting ambushed by Heartless or any other predators." I answered indifferently. He took my advice and climbed up to sit in the branches next to me. "Get some sleep. And try not to fall out." I advised, closing my eyes with my back against the trunk of the tree.

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Unable to sleep, I opened my eyes. Riku was fast asleep in his cluster of branches and leaves, looking like a young child. I chortled and looked up at the stars, thinking of Phelicia and my friends there. A shooting star caught my eye and I remembered when I was still a rookie.

'_The night was warm, everyone was outside in the gardens star gazing._

"_Oh look! A shooting star! Let's make wishes guys!" Caddie squealed pointing at the shining streak. Me and Kaz nodded and closed our eyes. "What did you wish for, Kaz?!" Caddie asked as soon as she opened her eyes._

"_For my daddy to learn how to cook!" She laughed._

"_Well I wished for a rainbow pony!" Caddie exclaimed proudly._

"_What?! That's never gonna happen!" Kaz retorted with Caddie sticking her tongue out at the brunette. "What did you wish for, Raven?" The pair of them stared intently at me. I looked back at them with a smile._

"_I wished for us to be happy!" A bright grin spread across my face followed by Kaz and Caddie making a dog pile on top of me. Everyone who was present, laughed with us, but the three of us, laughed the hardest.'_ I smiled to myself and wished on that star like I had on that night.

'I wish for the strength to protect my friends'. Opening my eyes again I noticed Riku's eyes were on me. "I thought you were asleep." I said calmly. He sat up.

"I was. But I never sleep too deeply. Not anymore. So what about you? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I couldn't get into it. I was just looking at the stars." There was a silence. The breeze swayed my hair and carried the sound of whispering. My ears pricked at the voices. I had the sudden feeling that we were being watched. "Go back to sleep, Riku. I'm gonna go for a walk to tire me out a bit. Maybe I'll be able to sleep then." I leapt over the edge of my nest and landed lightly then I walked in the direction of the whispering. As I progressed, I learnt that there were three beings and they were all small. I was a fair distance from where me and Riku were resting when the three figures jumped out screaming. The trio hid behind me, bewildering me, to escape whatever had scared them.

"Ah!"

"It's scary!"

"T-Tea!?" I glanced over my shoulder at three young girls. Then I walked over to the bush to see what the problem was. As I expected, it was a Soldier Heartless. I kicked it deep into the trees where it wouldn't bother anyone. I turned back to the three children and knelt down to them.

"Are you girls okay?" I asked gently. They all ran up to me and smothered me.

"So brave!"

"So pretty!"

"Cookie!" I chuckled and patted their heads. One of the girls had dark purple hair just below her ears and indigo eyes. She wore dark purple overalls with yellow buttons, a head band with yellow and purple antennae, and a gold necklace with an amethyst flower pendant.

"What's your name?" I asked this child.

"I'm Chloa Periwinkle!" She giggled and shook my hand. Another girl was darker skinned and had cat whiskers, tail eyes, and ears. She wore a green school girl uniform with gold trimmings and white ascot, a green bow tied her dark brown hair into a ponytail and a green collar with little gold bells.

"And you?"

"Virag Viernesia." This girl was shyer than Chloa and shook my hand slowly. The third girl had mousey brown hair, grey eyes, blonde bunny ears, bunny nose and whiskers. An orange jumper, too large for her, was her chosen attire with a carrot clasp and she carried a brown teddy bear.

"Louisee O'Dell. Biscuits!" She squeaked and slipped something into my hand.

"We gotta go now but here's a present to say thanks for helping us!" Chloa piped up. Then all three girls just vanished in puffs of green, purple and orange smoke.

"Nice kids." I said to myself, opening my hand to reveal the rainbow jewel in my hand. 'I guess I should get back to Riku.' I climbed back into the tree and saw that he was asleep again and smiled at his peaceful expression. I sat against the trunk again and drifted into a calm sleep.

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"How can you feel so rested after sleeping in a tree?" Riku moaned, massaging his shoulders after an apparently uncomfortable night's sleep.

"I dunno. I just am." I replied honestly. "Let's just find Alice, then you can have a nice long nap in your bed." We managed to find out way into a maze where we eventually got lost. "I'm getting tired of this! Riku!"

"What?" He groaned. I pointed to the ground.

"Give me a leg up." He did as I asked and made a step from his hands.

"Why exactly?" He grunted as I began climbing.

"So I can see if Alice is anywhere, or else we'll be here forever. And don't you dare look up my skirt!" I snapped.

"Not like there's anything to see." I heard him mumble, to which I deliberately stepped on his face. "Ow! Do you see her?"

"Not yet. Agh, quit wobbling! We're gonna fall!" I continued to scan the area around us. I could see a court of some kind being held a few hedges away and a curtained cage. A very fat woman was holding the session, surrounded by cards? And a white rabbit? And a duck, dog and maybe a hedgehog boy? My eyes scanned the gathering for a pure heart and I found one in the cage. "Wait! There's something- whoa! Oof!" Riku had lost balance and toppled both of us. He landed on his back and I landed on his stomach. "Idiot. Thanks for the soft landing!"

"Just please get off!" He panted. I'd probably winded him. I got up and brushed my skirt.

"As I was saying, there's a court being held not too far away, I think Alice is in the cage."

"How do you know?"

"I just do okay." He gave me a suspicious look before creating a purple and black oval.

"I'll be back in a minute. Stay here!" He commanded and walked through the oval. I made a face at him and sat down against the hedge. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, Riku came back, alone.

"Where is she?" I asked, getting up.

"She's With Maleficent now. C'mon, or you'll be left behind." He pulled out some powder and threw it over us and the green flames sprang up. The lurching feeling pulled at my gut and I landed on my bed, back in Hollow Bastion.

"Wow, a soft landing for on-Ah!" Riku landed beside me on the bed, catapulting me off of the bed. "I spoke too soon."

"Whoops! Sorry." Riku said giving me a hand up. " Why don't you go and explore. I gotta discuss something with Maleficent." I grabbed his wrist.

"Wait! When am I going to learn magic? I came here to learn it so I want to be taught!"

"That's what I'm going to discuss with her. She wanted to see if you could handle other worlds, before teaching you magic." I let go and stood back.

"Okay." He walked out and I fell backwards onto me bed. "Man, I wanna sleep!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Training Mishap**

"Oof!" I was rudely awakened by a hard floor to my butt. "Do you have to do that?" I grumbled as I got back up.

"I can't believe you took a nap!" Riku sighed.

"(Yawn) Guess I dozed off. What do you want?" I replied tiredly.

"Maleficent wants to see us both in the arena." He said flatly.

"Fine. (Yawn) Lead the way Snow Top."

"Stop calling me that!" and he lead me to the familiar arena. Maleficent was awaiting us in its centre.

"At last!" She huffed, exasperated. "It's time for you to learn your first spells."

"So there's no studying first? No mental preparation?" I asked. She answered me in her stern gaze. "Fine by me." I shrugged.

"You will learn a healing spell first. I feel they are most important to you at this time." She summoned a pink flower, surrounded by green leaves and a white aura. "This is the primary healing spell, Cure. It heals minor injuries and regenerates a small amount of energy. Now..." She raised her hand and the spell flew high into the air. A forest of black spiked bushes sprang up around the spell and the witch, leaving me and Riku to find my first enchantment. "You will have seven minutes to retrieve the spell." Maleficent's bodiless voice sounded.

"Well that's a half assed number." I muttered. Then Riku vanished from my side and appeared inside the mass of thorns. "One more thing, you will have to find Cure and then proceed to heal your comrade, all within the time limit. Your comrade will be injured for every minute you waste."

"Agh!" I heard Riku cry from within the hellish trap. That sounded the start of my time. I dashed into the thorns, the spikes immediately cutting my tanned skin. I made my way through five feet of the stuff before the branches were too close together for me to weave through so I got on my hands and knees and crawled another three feet before having to lay myself flat on my stomach to move at all. I found a small space to stand in and drew out my Sais.

"This is getting annoying!" I slashed down but was thrown backwards into a wall of thorns.

"Weapons cannot damage me, Raven." Maleficent's voice echoed through the vines.

'So, she's turned herself into the obstacle herself? Interesting.' I thought to myself.

"Agh! AGH!" I heard Riku yell again, symbolizing a minute gone. I looked up and saw a passage upwards. Showing no hesitation, I gripped the thorn ridden branches in front of me and began to climb. The fabric of my gloves soon shredded and the thorns dug into my flesh, drops of my blood falling onto the black plant. I came to where I could go no further upward, only down a tunnel of spiky, black vines. Seeing was my only way, I crawled though there, my knees and back also getting stabbed by the witches spell.

"Damn my love of sleeveless tops!" I cursed to myself jokingly as my arms were especially exposed to the painful task. Then I saw it! A light about ten feet above my head. The problem was, there was no path directly up.

"Agh! Son of a-!" I heard Riku curse again. Two minutes gone. Five minutes remaining. With no other idea, I grabbed the vines above my head and tore them open with my bare-ish hands. Tearing my way up was seemingly allowed as I at last achieved my goal and found the glowing blossom. I cupped my hands underneath it, and it sank into my skin. A feeling of warmth spread through my hands and they were healed.

"Hurry it up will you! Ow!" Riku shouted. From the sound of it he was in the centre of the bush. I crawled towards where I thought the middle was when I heard a cracking sound. Before I could scramble out of the way, the 'ground' gave out beneath me and I fell through branch after branch of brambles!

"Oh! Ow! Shit! Crap!" I cursed as I hit my head, breasts and butt on the spikes. Eventually, I landed myself in a sphere of some kind. "Damn that hurt!" I groaned, rubbing my head.

"Why do you always land on me?" The familiar voice of Snow Top sounded from below me.

"Found you!" I said getting off of him. I noticed that a vine was wrapped around his left wrist. Before my eyes it emitted a dark aura and tightened, cutting deeper into him.

"Ouch! Seriously, hurry up!" He snapped.

"Alright, alright! Jeez. Let's see... um." I squeezed the vine in an attempt to burst it.

"OW!"

"Sorry!" I then tried to tear it but it wasn't dry and crunchy like the rest of the vines. In the end, I took out one of my Sais and pried it off of him. "Uh... Um... Cure!" I shouted, holding my hands out over his wrist. The same warmth from the blossom reappeared in my hands and flowed out onto Riku's wrist in the form of pale blue light. The cuts healed and then the plant around us began to crumble away. "AHHHHHH! Oof!" The two of us yelled as we plummeted to the dusty earth.

"Stop using me as a landing pad!" Riku shouted from below me again.

"Oops." I said timidly, getting off again and helping him up. We dusted ourselves off and stood up straight for Maleficent.

"I suppose it was an adequate performance." She said in her usual calm, authorized tone. She then conjured another spell. "This is the primary form for Flame spells, Fire." A red flame danced at the end of her point tapered nails. This time, she threw the flame to the ground and a ring of fire encircled the three of us. "In this test you will have to find the true flame within the wall of fire and defend you comrade from Heartless while doing so. There is no time limit. Begin." With that she vanished and a flurry of her own green flames and left me and Riku in the blaze.

"So how does this one work?" I asked Riku, hoping he'd done this test before.

"Find the flame and protect me." He repeated.

"I meant how." He shrugged. A group of Neoshadow Heartless rose up from the ground and began swaggering towards us. I tried to touch my Sais but an electrical current prevented me from drawing them. "No weapons again?" A Neoshadow leapt at me and I performed a spinning kick to cast it away. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to kill it. I scanned the wall of fire around us looking for an out of place flame, but there was none. "Damn it!"

"Ahem! Raven, you've got another job here." Riku mocked, pointing to the Neoshadows advancing on him. I jumped over them to join him and performed Shockwave to send them all back. This routine repeated itself for roughly fifteen minutes and I was sweating and breathing heavily, the smoke was starting to get to me. Riku remained calm but was also suffering from the smoke. Thinking hard and desperately, I scanned the fire wall for the umpteenth time and the answer hit me. Without hesitation, I thrust my hand into the flaming inferno.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" I screamed at the burning pain. I was wrenched from the fire by Riku.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He shouted. Was he actually concerned?

"Getting the spell!" I grimaced, looking at my blistering hand. There, flickering in my palm, was the remains of the red flame. The spell had been consumed by the blisters in my hand and as we watched, the rest of the flame was sucked into my fingers. The Neoshadows had encircled us now and were hungry for a hunt. "Get down." I whispered to Riku. He did as I asked without question as I gathered my new magic. "FIRE!" Bright blue flames erupted from my fingertips and incinerated the two Heartless in front of me. I gazed at my own fingers in awe and smirked to myself as I cast the spell in a spinning motion, sending the blaze in a circle and eradicating all the remaining Neoshadows. I held up my hands and gaped at the power that had just come from my body.

"A blue flame? Impressive." Maleficent praised as she proceeded to me and Riku. "Though you took far too long. Had that been a real incident, both of you would be dead or Heartless."

'Oh everyone's a critic.' I thought to myself. "I will try harder next time, Ma'am." I said nodding my head curtly.

"Good. Now, I want you to develop the two spells you have learnt." She summoned a large leather bound book covered in magic runes and drifted it to me. "Use this to help you." Again, I nodded. Then remembering the small jewel I'd received in Wonderland, I asked Maleficent,

"Do you know what this is?" She shot me a stern look so I added "Ma'am." At the end, holding out the stone. She picked it up between her finger and thumb and examined it sceptically.

"This, my dear, is a Summon Stone. And not a very powerful one at that. Hardly worth keeping. How did you come by this, Child?" She explained.

"I found it in Wonderland, Ma'am." I answered, taking the jewel back and pocketing it. She raised her eyebrow and began walking away.

"I expect you to reach the secondary form of each spell by the end of next week." She instructed over her shoulder.

"Yes, Ma'am." She vanished in her trade mark green flames. "Sss!" I hissed as a breeze stung my blistered hand. Glancing down at it, I saw the blood drops starting to fall from my fingertips. _'I've felt worse pain before.'_ I thought to myself, gritting my teeth and ignoring the stinging pains running up my arm. Then, a gloved hand gently took my wrist and raised it. My brown eyes met Riku's teal ones. "What?" I asked bluntly. With his other hand, he reached into his pocket and then shoved something in my mouth. It was a bottle and a foul tasting liquid poured out of it, down my throat. I tried to pull away, but Riku dropped my wrist and instead held the back of my head so I couldn't escape the disgusting drink.

"Stay still!" He hissed, gripping my hair a little. "There you go." He pulled the bottle from my lips and threw it to a bin in the corner of the arena.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" I snapped.

"Calm your pants, it was only a Potion." He replied indifferently, gesturing to my hand which was completely healed.

"I could've cast Cure, y'know."

"No point in wasting Magic. You're gonna need it for your training." He shrugged and walked away.

"There was still no need to force feed me!" I yelled after him. He shrugged again and continued walking, which really pissed me off. I opened the spell book and chose my spell. "LAPINA!" I extended my free hand, spread out my fingers and a cloud of white smoke and green lights flooded the distance between me and Riku. The smoke engulfed him and I heard him coughing and spluttering. I stared at my fingers. _'That wasn't what should've come from my hands'_ I thought a little frantically.

"Hey! (Cough, cough) What did you do _that_ for?!" I heard Riku shout, infuriated. However when I looked back to where he'd been, he wasn't there.

'_Oh no, I made him invisible!'_

"Did you grow or something?" I looked around again for him. "Hey, I'm down here!" I located him and my eyes widened. Then I covered my mouth and nose as I sniggered . "What so funny? Did you shrink me?"

"Not, exactly." I giggled and pointed to my bottom, hinting for him to look at his own.

**Riku's POV:**

The giggling SOLDIER indicated to her butt and I felt something twitch on my own bum. I looked around and my face gaped in horror. There, twitching like a cotton ball, was a little, fluffy bunny tail. Then something fell over my eyes, two big, long, floppy ears.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! I've got a tail, an-and what happened to my ears?!" Then I noticed my 'hands'. "I'VE GOT PAWS TOO?! Just look at my feet! They're HUGE!" The SOLDIER could barely contain her sniggers. "It's not funny!" I yelled, trying to hop over to her. She stopped giggling and gave a small smile.

"I'm so sorry! I honestly did not mean to turn you into a rabbit, Riku. Though, you are kinda cute like that." She apologized, kneeling down and stroking the tip of one of my ears, making a slight tinge of pink form on my puffy cheeks.

"Get off!" I hopped backwards but tripped over my overly large feet and fell flat on my back. "Damn it!" Then I felt a soft hand slid under my furry back and prop me up on my paws. "Huh?" I looked up into Raven's big brown eyes, puzzled that she would do something so simple and needless.

"Let's get you back to normal, okay?" I gave a single firm nod and began hopping after her as she made her way to the exit.

"You can... Get me back to normal... Can't you?" I called up to her. She stopped.

"Well, I'm sure there's a way."

"Why don't we just ask Maleficent?"

"Uh uh! No way, she'll kill us!"

"You maybe, but I'm the victim here! I'm not getting any of the blame!" I told the dark haired warrior.

"Whatever! Look, we might be able to get some kind of reversal spell from Ursula, do you know where she is?"

"Sure, she's in the water ways below the castle. Want me to show there?"

"Would be helpful." She continued walking but I was struggling to keep up with her long strides. "You okay?" She asked finally.

"Yeah, just trying to deal with these big feet. You better be able to change me back!" She gave a small chuckle and before I knew it, two soft hands slid around my middle and I was lifted off of the ground.

"Hey! What...?!" I felt myself being cushioned on two sides. She had picked me up and nestled me in her strong arms.

"You know, it wouldn't be so bad if you stayed like this."

"What?! You've gotta be joking!"

"Naturally. I don't think I'd be able to stand looking after you." She smirked. This however wasn't amusing for me. Then a group of Air Pirate Heartless appeared behind Raven. "Oh, gimme a break!" I expected her to draw one of her weapons and dispatch the lot of them but instead she turned tail and began running down the hallway. "Which way to Ursula?!"

"Uh, left! Down those stairs! No not those ones!" It was a nightmare trying to direct her when she was running so fast. Suddenly one of the Air Pirates glided in front of her. She casted her new fire spell. Having killed the Heartless, she sped up. Unfortunately, the other Air Pirates had created a blockade ahead of us.

"Hold on tight!" She held me tightly so I wouldn't fall and ran up the wall, across the ceiling over the blockade and back down the other wall! After recovering from the dizziness ,I realised she was pressing me into her boobs! I blushed horribly.

'_I'm enjoying this when I really shouldn't be!'_ I thought as she sprinted through the castle.

"Ahem! In need of directions here, Riku!" She reminded me, snapping me out of my slight heaven.

"Oh, right! There should be a shortcut just ahead!" Sure enough, as she made the next few steps, the floor gave out beneath her and we both went sliding down a secret slide. This made her hold me even tighter, and I had to fight off a nosebleed. We eventually slid through a panel and skidded to a halt in a shell decorated room.

**Raven's POV:**

I opened one eye and saw a room covered in sea shells and dried sea creatures. I looked down at Riku and was relieved to see he was okay.

"Come in. Come in, my child!" A woman's voice rang out from a huge hermit shell. "We mustn't lurk in doorways. It's rude!" Ursula slithered out of the shell, purring the word rude. "One may even question your upbringing." She chuckled as she slunk over to us. I stood up, holding Riku's furry form in my arms.

"Now, angelfish, what is it that you want?"

"Well, um, Riku's kinda not himself at the moment." This peaked her interest.

"Oh, how so?" I readjusted the silver rabbit so my hands were under his arms and held him out to her. "I see." I brought him back to me so I could hold him more securely. "So, you want to change him back into a human? I think I might have a spell for that, Sweetie." I let out a small sigh of relief. "But, you must give me something in return for this... Favour."

"Like what?"

"Don't agree to it! Seriousl..." He was cut short when Ursula's tentacle covered his tiny mouth. I stepped back, so the slippery limb was removed and looked back to the sea witch, awaiting her price.

"Just a small thing, insignificant really. You'll hardly notice the difference."

"Spit it out, Ursula!" She sneered.

"I want, a sample of your DNA. Or to be more precise, a few drops of your blood."

"My blood?" I repeated.

"You've got it, Sweetcakes. Just three drops is all I'm asking." I remained silent. None of it sounded right, but I couldn't exactly leave Riku as a bunny for the rest of his life. I felt two of her tentacles snake their way around my waist and arms and she pulled me into her hands. "Do we have a deal?" Her chubby hand gripped my shoulder as she made her way to the cauldron in her room. I brushed it off and stepped away.

"What's the catch?"

"Catch?"

"You wouldn't ask something worth so worthless of me unless there was another objective. So, what is it?" I stated, holding my steely gaze.

"Nothing gets by you does it, Honey?" Ursula chuckled. "Maleficent wishes to measure the Darkness in your blood so she can see whether your body is controlling it's levels. Nothing more." I was still uncertain but I nodded none the less. "Perfect." With that, she took Riku from me and wrapped him up in a tentacle while she straightened my arm out. The cauldron opened up and a dark cloud of green, blue and black erupted and overhung the room. Then three of her tentacles pricked my forearm and before my eyes, three red drops of my blood rose up from the pin sized cuts and circled up into the cloud. I covered my head and squeaked in fear as there was a sound like thunder and the cloud was sucked back into the cauldron. Composing myself, I felt a furry bundle being shoved into my arms.

"Hey! I'm still a rabbit here!" Riku shouted at the fat octopus lady.

"Hush up! Now, my dear, you'll know your Darkness levels in a few days. As for the impatient bunny boy, give him this mixture and he should turn back to normal. Now, it's been wonderful, but I'm afraid your time's up, Sweetums. Toodles!" She waved her fingers and we were teleported back to my room. And we were both soaking wet. I smiled down at Riku's soggy appearance and readjusted him again so he was positioned like a baby.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

"Fixing you." I shoved the bottle Ursula had given me into his mouth and force fed him like a baby. He squirmed a little but he was too small to resist my larger, stronger bulk. When the bottle was empty, I threw it in my bin and waited for the transformation. Sure enough, a couple seconds later, there was a puff of the same smoke with green lights and Riku was a human again, in my arms. I so very ungraciously dropped him where I stood (Much to his annoyance and embarrassment) before making my way over to my bed and flopping over it. "What an eventful day. A new world, two new spells and a bunny. Phew, I need a massage." I sighed closing my eyes. Then I felt a pair of hands rubbing into my shoulder blades. "I didn't realise you'd be so good at massages, Riku." I hummed.

"Who's Riku?" My eyes snapped open and I sat bolt upright. There, sat next to me was a young man, about nineteen, wearing a white shirt with black tuxedo trousers, waistcoat and loose tie. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his collar was undone, His polished black shoes reflected the chandelier, his shirt was un-tucked and a white rose was fastened to his waist coat. His jade hair was tied in a very loose ponytail with a few hair grips holding his fringe out of his face. His majestic violet eyes sparkled unnaturally as he smiled kindly at me.

"Who the hell are you?!" I asked confused and startled. His smile widened.

"I, my dear, am the fabulous, ALFONSO!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Everything's Topsy Turvy!**

"Who?" Riku asked, swinging on the end of my bed.

"Alfonso!" We both looked completely clueless. "Oh, silly me, you're the new mistress. I'm your feminine needs advisor!"

"My what?"

"You know all that wonderful girly fabulousness! What to wear, what hairstyle all those kind of things!"

"Okay, well what're you doing here?"

"You wished for a massage didn't you?"

"Um, yeah but..."

"That's what brought me here, Sweetie! You summoned me for a relaxing back rub. Speaking of which, would you like me to continue, or would you prefer if I massaged your feet?" Alfonso positioned himself at the ready to continue my massage.

"Well- I... um... Oh! Ooh that is really nice!" I said as he tempted me with his masterful hand work.

"Now, what would you like me to call you? Princess? Mistress? You say it!"

"Anything you want! Just keep giving me this massage." I sighed.

"Tch." Riku stood upright and made for the bathroom to his room.

"Don't you want one?" Alfonso asked when his hand was on the door handle.

"It's _so_ relaxing!" I piped up, half asleep.

"No thanks! I'm going to bed." I shrugged and let Alfonzo continue his heavenly hand work.

"Would you like me to run you a hot bath before you too retire?" He asked a couple of minutes later.

"No thanks. I don't really like warm water, it loosens me up too much." He paused his massage.

"Too much? Isn't that the fabulous point, Sweetie?"

"Exactly. I prefer to be on my toes at all times."

"Tut, tut. That's not good for you, honey. You need to relax once in a while, or you'll go all stiff!" He chortled.

"Maybe. Alfonso, you can go back now. I think I should get some sleep."

"Of course, Sugar! I'll be there whenever you need anything!" He vanished in a kaleidoscopic cloud and I was alone to fall asleep in my own time. While waiting for my eyes to droop, I stared at my hand, remembering how soft Riku's fur had been on my skin. I smiled to myself at the image of his little nose twitching and sniffing and his long ears and that adorable fluffy tail! But as I recalled these events, I felt something in my chest. I wasn't sure of what it was exactly, but it felt like it hurt. And yet it didn't hurt at all. I put the matter to rest and rolled onto my stomach to sleep.

'_A sound light. Blue in colour and surrounded by nothingness. But in that nothingness were many other lights, of all different colours, shapes and sizes. The majority of the lights began to fade except for a small group. The brightest out of this group were a violet, pink, jade, red and two orange lights. They clustered together until they were a blur of colour and light and suddenly dispersed, leaving a new light. Another blue one but a different shade to the original. A green tint to it. The two blue orbs drifted towards each other and a static connection was made. They overlapped and a blinding light shone from there resonance.' _

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The next few days were spent in the arena with Riku and Alfonso. It turned out, Alfonso knew a lot about refining magic and advancing onto different stages of a spell. My fire spell was stronger every day and my cure wasn't too shabby either. In order to progress through the stages, I had to strengthen my mental state and physical and I did so by pushing my mana limit. This caused great pain in my head and heart and put tremendous strain on my muscle endurance. Sometimes I would do this to the brink of passing out, but it was all to expand my mana origin. The Centre which contains magic energy and stores and regenerates it. Alfonso said that I was overdoing it and doing more harm to myself than good. Even Riku was concerned I was pushing my limits too much. And though they were both probably right, I wasn't prepared to take it easy on myself. It wasn't how I was brought up. It wasn't how I became that strong in the first place.

"FIRE! FIRE!" I cast the spell over and over until my mana origin was nearly empty. I panted heavily, supporting my weight on my knees.

"Seriously, Raven, you're gonna put yourself in a critical condition if you keep this up!" Riku told me, crossing his arms and looking irritable.

"Shut it, or I'll turn you into a rabbit again." I threatened, wiping some sweat from my forehead. He flushed red and turned to hide it. "That's what I thought."

"Now, now, Sweetie. You should listen to Riku. He's already at the secondary stage and knows what he's saying." Alfonso lectured, rubbing my back. I brushed him off.

"Well, he's not exactly being much help." I snapped, jerking my thumb in his direction.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Raven there, Riku. Can't you at least tell her how to do it without getting too exhausted?" My feminine advisor asked the young silvernette.

"Sorry, but she can't do this with my help. It's different for everyone. Plus Maleficent's given me orders not to help you with this." This made my blood simmer.

"Oh, I expect you just do whatever Maleficent tells you to! Honestly, you're like a flipping servant more than a student."

"Look, this is the only place I got left! If I don't keep the dragon lady happy, I could get kicked out or worse! So don't have a go at me for trying to stay under a roof!"

"Come on, now you two. This isn't the time for squabbling! You're supposed to be partners." Alfonso, being his usual keep the peace self, calmed the mood. I shook my head, exasperated, clipped my Sais to my belt and made my way to the exit.

"Whatever, I'm going to the gardens to take a break." I called over my shoulder. "Come get me if you need me for anything." During the days in which I'd been training, I'd also learnt my way through some of the castle. The gardens, though wild and not taken care of, were like a sort of sanctuary for me. It reminded me of the vast forests and woodlands of Phelicia, my home world. I sat on a crumbling wall and took out my Sais to sharpen them and remove any Heartless remains. They were such beautiful items. The black titanium blades engraved with drake runes, the black handles encrusted with glittering moonstones and the dragon insignia carved into the end of the hilt. I couldn't help but wonder why my Life Weapons were given to me so early. But mortals could never understand the twists and turns of fate that guide us in our journey of life. I watched as sparks flew from the blades when they were run along my sharpening stone. When I was satisfied with their keenness, I sheathed them and sat in the shade of the trees, feeling the breeze. Caddie would say I was in a dream state whenever I became 'part of nature'. I could hear everything, feel the slightest movements, smell every single scent and see the tiniest details. I felt strangely nostalgic all of a sudden. My friends, master, my home. I missed them all.

'_CRACK'_ I snapped back to reality as I heard the loud noise.

"Hello? Is someone there?" There was a sound like a snake slithering across leaves, buzzing continuously, in a circle around me. Whatever it was, it was, it was targeting me. Distracted by the noise to my right, I did not sense the vine silently encircling my left ankle until it tightened and hoisted me upwards into a dangling position. "No!" My Sais had slipped from their scabbards and were laying in amongst some dead leaves. The blood was rushing to my head, making me feel extremely hot, and sweat broke out as I was faced with a pair of giant, yellow eyes. A Heartless! And a big one! It's body was a huge carnivorous plant with tentacle like vines spreading from its roots and leaves. It's jagged toothed mouth opened wide to devour me and I reacted quickly by lashing out with my free leg and kicking it square in the eye. It screeched in pain and dropped me immediately. Not wasting a moment, I shot off from my so called 'sanctuary' and made for the arena, where hopefully I'd be able to get help in killing that thing. However, the Heartless wasn't about to let its prey escape so easily. It fast began its pursuit and was right on my tail as I charged through the hallways. _'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!'_ My thoughts screamed every step I took. "IT'S GONNA EAT ME!" I shouted, hoping for at least someone's attention. I rounded a corner and...

WHAM!

**Riku's POV:**

"You know, Riku, you should really lay off of her a bit. This is how she deals with magic. We can't change how she's been brought up." Alfonso scolded. "You haven't seen the inside of her heart."

"Oh and I suppose you have?"

"Well being her summon I have been able to see to a certain extent. And what I have seen of her heart is fragile and locked. I think she needs less ordering and more moral support or encouragement."

"So what do you want me to do about it? Dress up as a cheerleader and chant a slogan for her?" Sarcasm clear in my tone.

"Go talk to her, Silly! I think she needs a friend like you. Someone who maybe understands a tiny bit about her." I thought about it for a moment. It was true, I still didn't know a lot about Raven. But we agreed not to get too close to each other in case she went home or I found Sora and Kairi. I sighed and looked back to the summon.

"Okay, I'll talk to her. She said she was in the gardens, didn't she?" He nodded and I took my leave. Walking through the castle corridors, I heard a commotion coming towards me. Curious, I ventured towards the source. However, as I went to turn the corner, who would knock me over, other than Raven herself. "Oof!"

"Ow!" I opened my eyes to her tanned face inches from mine. Her black hair brushing against my cheeks. She got up, completely unfazed by the close encounter and grabbed my hand before continuing to run.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Just keep running!" I looked over my shoulder and saw a giant Heartless with long vines spilling in every direction. It let out a screeching roar at the sight of us and picked up speed as it slithered towards us. Realising the danger, I caught up to the SOLDIER and ran alongside her. The Heartless was gaining on us quickly and it's vines were reaching out to grab us. And it succeeded. One vine managed to tie itself around my free wrist and pulled me backwards, which in turn made Raven falter.

"Hey! Get this thing off me!" I demanded as she gripped my hand with both of hers and began pulling.

"I don't have my Sais with me!"

"What?!"

"They fell out when this thing appeared!" She referred to the Heartless which was almost upon us. She looked around frantically and her eyes landed on a coats of arms with two swords crossed over and while still holding onto me with one hand, she tried to pry one of the swords from the ornament. "C'mon!" She mumbled. "Crap!" The entire thing came off of the wall frustrating her further. "That's it!" She let go of my hand, lifted the decoration over her head and brought it down on the head of the Heartless. It screeched again and collapsed before going limp.

'_She defeated it with one blow?!'_ I thought amazed and relieved. I untangled my hand from the vine and took her outstretched hand.

"So, what was it you needed?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, well um the thing is... I just... I think..."

"Yes?"

"I think we should get to know each other a little." She tilted her head and folded her arms. "What I mean is, if we're gonna be working together, we should know a little bit about each other, that's all."

"Can't hurt I suppose." She shrugged. I gave her a small smile when suddenly, I felt something impact my back which sent me flying... Straight into Raven!

**Raven's POV:**

Before I could react, the thick vine had smacked into Riku's back and he was flung into me. We collided and fell to the floor. But that wasn't all. For the briefest moment, our lips connected. Both of us had a look of astonishment on our faces and as well as the blush on Riku's cheeks, I could feel my own cheeks flushing a little and my heart was pounding in my chest, like it had the night he was a rabbit. However, our brief moment of surprise had left us completely open and without a chance of reaction, several vines slithered around our bodies, tying us together and lifting us off of the ground. I thought that our end had come but the Heartless didn't eat us. It simply began moving down the halls with us as its cargo.

"So, uh, do you wanna start getting to know each other before we die?" He joked nervously.

"I don't think now's the best time!" It was a little awkward to say the least with our forms being compressed so tightly by the plant and Riku still hadn't stopped blushing.

"Look, sorry to be blunt but... Your boobs are squishing me, they're too big." He said with a little gasp. I honestly didn't know whether I would have slapped him or not had I been mobile.

"Well excuse me for being born with big breasts! And anyway, your elbow's in my ribs!" And then the argument commenced, despite our situation. The heartless stopped abruptly, ending our bickering as we both struggled to turn our heads to the throne where a very displeased Maleficent was sat, stroking her bird and tapping her fingers on the arm rest. The Heartless unfurled the vines and lowered us to the floor prior to releasing us from its custody and fading away. I stood up immediately, glad to be a foot away from Riku.

"Pathetic! I would have expected far more of you. Especially you, Riku, who has faced far stronger foes." Riku too got up and dusted himself off. "And you, Raven, are all members of SOLDIER as easy to ambush as you, or are you so incompetent that you couldn't sense it's presence?" Maleficent scolded.

"Sorry, Ma'am." We said in union. She eyed us before continuing.

"Not that you really disserve it, but I'm sending you both away for one day. Pete will be taking you there and collecting you exactly 24 hours later. Now, go and pack your things." She ordered. We bowed our heads to her and turned for the door. "Raven, may I have a word?" She called to me. I turned back around and waited for her patiently.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"How has your spell casting been? Have you reached the secondary stage yet?"

"Not yet, Ma'am, but my spells have grown much stronger and I think I'm close to achieving the secondary stage."

"That is pleasing. You may go now." She dismissed me and I gladly left her company to pack for my day off. I rummaged through my wardrobe for a rucksack, threw it onto my bed and then continued to rummage for some casual clothing. I found my white shirt and red skirt combination, added a small black purse/belt, a pair of knee length white socks with a black stripe at the top and a pair of red converse trainers and shoved them all in the bag as well as my 'pyjamas' and toiletries. I then relieved myself of my SOLDIER belt and my shoulder guard, put them neatly in a draw in my desk and pulled on my grey overcoat.

"Riku, are you ready to go?" I asked through the bathroom door. There was no answer. "Riku?" I opened the door and ventured into his room which was empty of its owner. His yellow duvet was in a bundle at the foot of the bed and his pillow was on the floor. There was nothing in the room other than the bed and desk set. No clothes, no sentimental possessions. Except for a small piece of paper on top of an old book. I walked over to it and picked it up. It was a photograph of three people. In the middle was a girl of about my age with short maroon hair and lilac eyes. She had a kind, smiling face and her name was scribbled above her head. _Kairi._ Her handwriting was kinda curly and very neat and she'd put a heart on each 'I'. I couldn't help but be a little jealous of how pretty she was. To her right was a boy of the same age, with wild spiky brown hair, sapphire blue eyes and a big cheesy grin across his tanned face. He too had his name scrawled across his chest in scruffy, untidy handwriting._ Sora._ Then to the left of Kairi was Riku. His name was also written down the side of the photo in fairly neat handwriting. I stared at his image. He didn't look quite the same as I how I knew him. He was smiling almost as widely as Sora was and his aqua eyes seemed to twinkle even in a frozen moment. Thinking of it, I realised I hadn't seen him look genuinely happy. Sure he smiled now and then but I wouldn't call that 'Happiness'. I put the photo back on top of the book and opened his desk draw. And closed it immediately. _'Well I guess he's gotta keep his underwear someplace.'_ I thought, slightly grossed out. I noticed his messy bed again and sighed. _'Honestly, and he says I'm untidy.'_ I thought with a small smile as I began making his bed. I decided to check his own bag. To my aggravation, it was empty. I sighed again and got his own toiletries and a two pairs of boxers for him and put them in his bag. I then picked up the book he was reading, slipped the photo inside and put that in as well. The door opened just as I finished zipping up the back pack and sat on his bed.

"What're you doing here?" He asked as he walked in, Alfonso following.

"Seeing if you were ready to go."

"And yet you packed his bag and made his bed?" Alfonso teased.

"Why are you still around, Alfonso? You do know you can go back home." He bowed and held out two shining black objects, my sais, before he disappeared in his rainbow smoke. "So, Riku, you ready?"

"I guess." I shoved his backpack into his hands and ushered him out, while picking up my own bag.

"Well then let's go!"

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Pete had left us in a back alley of a city and as we ventured into the town square, we were met with a magnificent sight. Colourful tents and banners were absolutely _everywhere_! There were stalls selling souvenirs and snacks, stages sheltered by even more colourful tents, there was even a Punch and Judy booth for children! It reminded me of the festivals the Abbey held every so often, except on a much grander scale. And then, right in the centre of it all, was a marvellous cathedral! I stared open mouthed at the stain glass windows and the decorative statues and gargoyles. This building made the Abbey seem like an old shack.

"C'mon, we gotta get to the inn. Now I think it was the _La Tête de Hart_ which is... There!" Riku said, tugging my arm and pointing to a small inn, with a Hart's head on the sign. We walked in and found the check in desk immediately. "We're the travellers that pre-booked." He introduced to the Inn Keeper.

"But of course! Right this way Monsieur, Mademoiselle." He came around the counter and showed us up some stairs, to the attic room. "Enjoy your stay my quelques!" He gave a small bow and shut the door. The room was cosy with a loveseat and a table for two and a cute wooden cupboard for clothing. It was then that me and Riku realised a terrible mistake. There was only one bed. True it was a king size, but that would mean that we'd have to stay in the same bed.

"I'm sleeping on the loveseat!" I said at once.

"What? Why?"

"I'm not sharing a bed with you! I've had more than enough close contact with you today!" I explained, taking out some extra blankets I'd discovered in the cupboard.

"Well, if you say so. But I feel kinda bad, letting a girl sleep on a sofa. What're you doing?" He asked as I pulled out a large green wine bottle.

"Relax, it's just sake wine." I replied, pulling out another bottle. "It's a real favourite back home!" I stated, popping a cork and guzzling the clear alcoholic drink. "Aah, you want some?" I asked, holding out the other bottle. He looked suspicious at first but took the bottle from my hand. "Careful, you might not be able to hold your liquor."

"As if!" He scoffed, glugging down his own bottle. However, when he finished looking at the world through the bottom of a glass, he was a little ditsy and wobbly.

"You okay?" He turned towards me, and looked at me funny. Then without warning, he jumped at me and _hugged _me! And because of the force, I was knock onto the loveseat. He began nuzzling my chest and collar bone with his cheek as he clung to me with his arms tightly wrapped around my waist so I had no way of escape. My heart began pounding again and my cheeks flushed. I realised he was pissed as hell but even I never did _that_ kind of the thing! "Riku! Quit clinging to me!" I tried pushing his heavy body off of me but we both ended up on the floor.

"Mmn... Don't leave..." He groaned into my shoulder. "Just go to sleep..." And he began snoring away like a child. Now that his grasp had loosened, I was able to wriggle out from under him. I looked back at him and couldn't leave him asleep on the floor so carefully, I scooped him up, hoisted him over my shoulder and carried him over to the bed which I pulled the blankets back and laid him in the centre before pulling the blankets over him.

"You can be a real hand full, you know that right." I chuckled, making myself comfy on the loveseat and uncorking yet another bottle of my favourite drink, Sake.

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I woke up to the early morning sun on my face, I was well rested and three empty bottles were strewn around the loveseat. I sat up, stretching my arms and looked over to the still sleeping Riku. Seeing that he wasn't going to easily wake up, I changed into my shirt and skirt combo and scribbled a note to him.

_Dear, Snow Top_

_I'm going to the festival in the square, if you need me look around the main attractions._

_If you have the mother of all headaches, congrats! You've got a hangover. In which case, drink about two pints of milk and it'll clear up real nice._

_Signed, Raven._

_P.S Don't ever get drunk around me again please._

I left the note on the arm of the loveseat and headed out of the inn. The streets were still fairly deserted at the hour, save for the gypsies adding the finishing touches to their preparations. I wondered through the vivid surroundings until I got to the cathedral. Curiosity and awe drove me to look inside. The inside was just as intricate as the exterior. As I walked between the pews, I heard strange footsteps from behind me. I turned to see a hunched shadow by one of the staircases.

"E- Excuse me, but the arch bishop isn't here today." A very nervous voice stuttered.

"Oh, I'm just looking around. Thanks anyway though." The shadow seemed to nod and turned to go up the staircase again. "Wait!" I jogged over to the shadow, who picked up his own pace, but he hesitated long enough for me to grab his tunic.

"No! Please don't look!" He cried, covering his face with his large hands. I looked at the young man and saw that he was a hunchback. "I-I'm a monster!"

"Who told you that?! Just because you look a little different doesn't make you a monster." He turned his still covered face towards me. "It's what's inside that determines who we are. Not the word of some bully." I slid my hands between his and pulled them away from his face, to see his distorted form. "What's your name?"

"Q-Quasimodo."

"Okay, Quasimodo, I'm Raven. So, can you tell me a bit about the festival outside?"

"Oh yes. Today's the Feast of Fools. It comes to Paris once a year and everyone acts the opposite to what they're supposed to and act silly. It's wonderful!" He explained longingly. "I wish I could go. Just once."

"Well, why don't you? I mean the door's right there." I gestured to the huge doors.

"Oh no, I couldn't! My master forbids it!" He became shy again. "And besides, I wouldn't be welcome out there. Not with a face like mine."

"Maybe next year then!" I patted his shoulder and made my way to the exit, stopping short of the door. I turned back to him and gave him a thumbs up and an encouraging smile. "There's bound to be more people like me who don't care what you look like." And I left for the colourful streets again.

"Oh no! Sacrebleu!" A male gypsy shouted in distress. I rushed over to him and another gypsy who was seemingly hurt. "Mademoiselle! My Clara! She has sprained her ankle! She cannot perform in the festival!"

"What can I do?" I asked, concerned as I began bandaging Clara's foot. The male gypsy stared at me, analysing me before concluding his scan.

"Well, mademoiselle, I need a replacement! I don't suppose you would be interested?" He pleaded.

"Sure, why not." I shrugged. Both of the gypsies eyes lit up.

"Merci! Merci! You are too kind mademoiselle! Not many people would help a couple of gypsies like us." I smiled at him and helped him move Clara into a tent. "So, you will be replacing Clara as the dancer! Put these on, Mademoiselle... uh..."

"Raven, sir." He beamed at me and handed me a bundle of consisting of two outfits and shoved me behind a screen.

"The orange is under the pink and blue!" He told me from the other side of the screen. I finished changing and came out from behind the screen. "Come, Raven, we have exactly two hours before the festival starts!" And he lead me out onto the stage to teach me the routine. Two hours later, the crowds were starting to hoard. "You are ready!" The gypsy stated proudly. "You know the routine?" I nodded. "Then go out there and show the whole of Paris what you can do, mon Cher!" I stood behind the curtain, waiting for the ring leader to jump onto the stage so I could make my entrance. Sure enough, he dropped his glass sphere to create a smokescreen which I used to sneak onto the stage. The smoke cleared, revealing my circus attire of a pink and blue leotard patterned with black stripes and diamonds and the pink, blue and black jester's hat with silver bells. My face was covered with a white mask covering my eyes and nose but leaving my grinning mouth visible to the crowd. That was when circus music started and we began to dance. I spun and leapt around the stage, having the time of my life, when I saw a silver haired teenager watching my show. My heart jolted and I nearly faltered but managed to regain myself and place my hands on the ringleader's shoulders to back flip over him This wasn't the main attraction of the show though. The climax was when the ringleader vanished and I twirled on one foot, extended my hand and let the small glass orb roll off my fingertips and create a flash of red smoke. I threw away the leotard and once the smoke had cleared again, I stood wearing another outfit. An orange belly dancer costume with gold linings. My eyes were decorated with orange and yellow gems in a way that made them fan out like flames. My top was also decorated in the same way with gold beads hanging from the hem. My orange pants were transparent from the thigh to the ankles and where the fabric wasn't see through, the gems decorated like fire. There was a yellow veil over my face , a golden tiara on my head and many beads and gems decorated my skin in sun like emblems. More yellow veils were attached to my wrists and shoulders flowing around me as I began another dance, to more lively music. The crowd were roaring as I performed my finishing sequence. A run up handstand, flip forward onto my feet, slide my legs apart to make splits and finally raise my head and arms, panting and smiling. The crowd exploded with applause and I could see Riku clapping as well, with a look of amazement on his face. The gypsy came out on stage and help me up before we both took a bow. "Ladies and gentlemen... Raven!" The crowd applauded once more and I was showered by confetti. Riku was waiting for me at the stage steps and helped me down.

"You were amazing!" He exclaimed. I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks and I smiled at him, rubbing my neck. I then gazed at the cathedral.

'_Were you watching me, Quasimodo?'_

"C'mon, let's have a little fun." Riku smiled at me and we spent the day enjoying the festival. The gypsy man I helped let me keep the costumes as thank you gifts. It was the happiest I'd been in a long time.


	8. Chapter 8

**To Home**

Rain started to pour down on Paris in the early hours of the evening, and as we weren't staying at the inn that night, we took shelter in the cathedral.

"Pete better hurry up." Riku grumbled as he shook the water from his silver locks.

"He shouldn't be too- Ah!" A flash of lightning startled me.

"Relax, it's just a storm."

"Y-Yeah. I know." I stuttered. There was another flash through the rose window and I immediately held my head and dropped to my knees whimpering.

"What's gotten into you?" Riku asked, curious at my behaviour.

"I-It's nothing. I-I'm used to Th-this kind of thing." I quivered. He folded his arms and looked out one of the stain glass windows at the storm.

"Raven, are you afraid of lightning?"

"No! Of c-c-course not! Ah! Okay, I am!" I confessed. "I'm terrified of lightning!" I trembled in fear on the mosaic floor. Then I felt a gloved hand on my shoulder and turned my head to meet Riku's gorgeous eyes.

"Y'know it's okay to be scared. Everyone's afraid of something." He began stroking my shoulder and back in an attempt to comfort me. Another bolt of lightning struck and I hugged my knees tighter. "I guess this explains why the thunder spell from the Darkside hit you. You were paralyzed with fear." I nodded. The storm produced a barrage of lightning at that point, and before I knew what I was doing, I'd jumped into Riku's chest and squeezed his waist like he had done to me the previous night. I realised what I was doing, and just as I was about to pull away and apologise, he placed his hands on my back and my head and locked me into a hug. My heart began pounding yet again and my cheeks flushed crimson as I felt how warm he was. Heard his gentle breathing and his steady heart beat. We sat there like that for a good few minutes, Riku holding me tighter whenever lightning struck before the opening of the cathedral doors startled us into pulling apart before the new being saw us.

"There ya are! I've been lookin' all over for you two!" It was Pete, looking very wet and disgruntled. "C'mon, Maleficent wants you two ta get some shut eye back at Hollow Bastion." With that, he opened a corridor of Darkness and lead us through, straight to our rooms, where I fell on my bed as soon as Pete had exited the room. However, Riku stood looking rather timid which was way out of the ordinary.

"Look...Um... Sorry about yesterday. Y'know, with the Heartless and the... Kiss." I was genuinely shocked that he was still worried about that.

"Don't apologise, it wasn't your fault." I sighed tiredly. "Now, goodnight." And I fell asleep with a two fingered salute. What I didn't know, was that Riku, who hadn't left the room, pulled a blanket over me and put a pillow under my head. His fingertips brushed aside some locks of my fringe, lingering by my cheek before he realised what he was doing and left the room.

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'_I was back home by the Capricorn lake. I was alone and it was night, no stars shone though. I looked across the lake to the mountain rocks and squinted at the outline of a keyhole. Suddenly the keyhole began spewing out black slime and smog. Darkness. It polluted the water and the air and gradually began devouring the world. Unable to out run it, it eventually devoured me.'_ I woke up with a start, panting slightly at my nightmare. But fell back into a dreamless sleep almost immediately, barely remembering the disturbing imagery.

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A couple days later, me and Riku were searching various worlds for both his friends and the princesses. When we finished a world, we'd call out to Maleficent and she'd teleport us some other place.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When I woke up, I was no longer in the rolling hills of the previous world. Instead I was in a forest. The sun hadn't risen yet so the lighting was dark.

"Where am I?" I said shaking my head to wake up a little more. The strange thing was, I felt two big ears smack my cheeks when I did so. I looked down and saw thin stick like legs, then behind me to see a small tail and spotted fur. My ears pricked and spun like radar dishes at the sound of another being stirring. I realised I was no longer human. In fact, I was a young doe. A fawn. Black in colour, with dark grey spots and belly fur and a dark brown nose. The being that was stirring next to me, was Riku, who was a young silver buck with white belly fur and a black nose and a pair of antlers were starting to poke through his head.

"Mmn... Is it morning?" He yawned and opened one eye. "Oh, it's just a deer."

"Hey! Get up!" I nudged him with my nose. He snapped his eyes open and stared at me.

"The deer just talked! Raven, the deer just talked!"

"I know! It's me you dumbass!" I sighed. "Don't look at me like that, you're a deer too." He looked at himself then face planted the ground, letting out a long groan. I rolled my eyes and tried to stand on my spindly legs. It was kinda hard but I eventually managed to stand upright, though I was very unsteady. I took a tentative step forward and nearly toppled over. However, I managed to regain myself, and with a few more cautious steps, I was able to walk. Riku had finally lifted his head and saw my wobbling struggle, chuckling before he too made his quivering way to his feet. "It's kinda like walking on four stilts." I remarked as we ventured through the now sunlit woodland.

"Yeah, it's a pain in the neck." He grumbled. I rolled my eyes again at his moody state. We came to a sparkling brook with a fallen, hollow log stretched across it. I stepped up onto the log and began walking across it, Riku following suit, when a grouchy old porcupine popped up from under the bark.

"Tch, what's this? More trespassing hooligans?!" He snorted. "Get off my property! This log is mine! If you brats wanna cross, you gotta go the long way or get your feet wet! Back in my day, we respected other people's territory! Now go on, get off!" He barked. Despite his rudeness, I was polite and nodded to him.

"Of course sir, sorry for disturbing you, we'll go around." I hopped off of the log, into the water. Yet Riku stayed put, annoyed.

"You still here, boy?!" The porcupine snapped.

"All we want to do is cross, it's not like we're damaging anything." The white fawn retorted.

"Riku, it's his private property, we can't just waltz around on it when it isn't ours."

"There ya see?! You should listen to ya little girlfriend sonny, and scram!" But Riku still wouldn't move. Instead, the idiot continued to walk across the damn thing. "Oh I don't think so, Sonny boy!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

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"Ow! Ouch!"

"Hold still, you idiot!" I mumbled through a porcupine spine in my mouth. I spat it out and plucked another one from Riku's rear. "I told you not to cross." I mumbled through the spine in my teeth.

"Well excuse me for being born stubborn." He huffed, turning around to me. Our noses brushed briefly and we both blushed.

"Tch, Twitterpated." I heard an old owl sigh, not understanding what 'Twitterpated' was. Then there was a rustling from the long grass we were surrounded by, and I spat the spine out to investigate. Just a few feet from where I was tending to Riku's incompetence, was a dark brown fawn with his antlers starting to show. He looked up at me with green eyes and smirked.

"Hey there. Haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?" He had a very snobby tone, which made me want to vomit and the look in his emerald eyes made me uncomfortable. "Oh, I get it, you're intimidated by me. That's okay, my antlers are pretty impressive. My name's Rono, and these are the boys, Stab and Jab." He tilted his head, indicating to his antlers. I backed up a bit giving him a look of dislike which he misread and stepped closer to me. "Y'know, I heard a scream earlier, I hope that wasn't you. If it was, I'll sort out the idiot that made you scream."

"How, thoughtful, but it wasn't me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got things to do."I said sarcastically, turning around and heading back to Riku.

"Oh, okay. Well, maybe I'll see you later." He called after me. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and found Riku again.

"Right, let's get you de-spined, shall we?"

"Please do, my butt's killing me! Ouch!" I plucked the last three spines at once and spat them in Rono's direction, satisfied when I heard him yelp through the grass. "What was that?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Hey! Who threw that!" Rono's voice shouted as he poked his head through the blades of grass. "Oh, it's just you. Y'know, I know this real cool place just past the waterfall where I knocked out a man hound, I could take you there if you like." He boasted. But Riku half stepped between me and Rono. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Riku retorted viciously. The two young bucks stared down each other, the sky clouding over.

"Tch, are those supposed to be antlers? They're not even splitting yet!" Rono taunted.

"Big talk coming from a guy who still has a couple of spots left." Riku snarled back. They fired insults at each other, one demining the other's adulthood. I in the meantime was sat, very bored, a good few feet away from the bickering idiots. I felt a wet droplet land on my nose, followed by another and another.

"Hey, will you two shut up! It's starting to rain, and you're giving me a headache." I scolded. The bucks stared at me and fell silent.

"Sorry, you're right, let's find some shelter." Riku nodded apologetically and we began looking for some shelter. To our shared annoyance, Rono followed us until there was a flash of lightning and he ran screaming to his mother. I too was scared and realising this, Riku quickly ducked us into a hollow tree trunk. I began trembling again as the storm raged and Riku curled himself around me. "It's okay, Raven, I'm here." He soothed.

"Two thunder storms in one week! It's not fair!" I grumbled. "Can we just ask Maleficent to take us back to Hollow Bastion?" I whimpered, my ears pinned back.

"Okay. Maleficent! We wanna go back now!" He hollered. The green flames engulfed us and we landed in the throne room, lying on the floor hugging each other.

"My, my, you two sure are getting cosy." It was Hades who spoke, making us roll apart and separate. "Now why don't you two skip off to the meeting hall, and I'll forget to tell Maleficent about your cuddles. Go on, scat." We glared at the god but left for the meeting room where Maleficent had left a hologram telling us that she'd gone to monitor a world and wouldn't be back until dusk. Once the projection was finished, the watch Kaz had given me started to ring with a siren and a projection of Kaz's face appeared.

"Kaz!?"

"Raven?! Thank goodness I got through! Listen, you've gotta come home!" her voice was panicked and tired.

"What's wrong?!"

"It's the Heartless! They're destroying everything! And they're Darksides! We need your help! We need our best SOLDIER!" My eyes widened in horror. "Please, Raven! You're our only hope!" Her image began to flicker and her voice distorted.

"Kaz? Kaz! Hold on! I'm coming!" The projection of the ranger flickered out and I bolted for my room. I wrenched the wardrobe doors off of the hinges and pulled out my SOLDIER uniform. I changed into as quick as I could then stormed back to the meeting hall, bumping into Riku on the way.

"Raven-"

"Teleport me home!"

"I can't do that!"

"Let me go home, Riku!" I lunged at the small bag of powder in his hand and tackled him to the ground, fighting him for it. "My friends need me! Just because your world got destroyed, doesn't mean I'm gonna let mine have the same fate!" I growled. He glared at me and shoved me off.

"Fine! Here!" He tossed the bag to me. "Get killed for all I care!" He spat. I caught the pouch and threw the dust over me, thinking of home.

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I was immediately teleported to the Abbey and my heart jolted. There was nothing but fire, heartless and screaming civilians.

"Raven!" I turned to see Kaz and Caddie running towards me in their own uniforms.

"What's happening?! Why are the Heartless attacking in such big numbers?"

"Something shattered the Guardian Barrier! We can handle the small fry, it's just the Darksides, there're too many. Thankfully there haven't been many casualties yet!" Caddie explained.

"Show me!" I demanded, and they lead me to the Capricorn Lake. The water was polluted with Darkness and the air was thick with the suffocating aura.

"About time you got here!" I turned to see a boy my age with spiky red hair, tied in a long ponytail and symmetrical scars under his green eyes, wearing black goggles on his forehead and a scruffy black tuxedo, and wielding a metal rod.

"Reno! When did you get back?!" I asked the Turk.

"About three days after you left." A young, bald, black man wearing shades and a neat tuxedo explained.

"Rude! You too!" There was a strangled roar from behind me and a Neoshadow appeared to have a fit then explode. Standing in front of me, was my master, Jak, carrying his electrified spear "Master..." Next to him was Mika with her sacred beads, Beka wielding her trident, Kirin gripping his broadsword and Ejay twirling his boomerang.

"Raven, thank the dragons you're here. The Heartless are consuming everything in their path. Please, you're the only one who can do this! You're the only one who can save Phelicia!" I was astonished. My master, close to tears, begging for help. I turned to Kaz and Caddie and smirked.

"I don't suppose you two wanna kick some Heartless arse with me, do you?" They grinned and held up their own weapons. "Then let's get going!" And with those words, we charged into the fray of Darkness. One after another, we slew countless Heartless, our bodies drenched in a mixture of their black blood and our own crimson blood. Kaz took a claw to her left eye and screamed in pain. I rushed over to her, my black leather gloves pulled off, exposing my healing hands.

"Cure!" The pale blue light spread over her face, scabbing the wound, but not erasing it. Confused I casted it again. "Cure! Why isn't it working!? I'm not strong enough?"

"It's okay, Raven, The pain's stopped." The Ranger reassured, tying a bandage over her damaged eye.

"There's gonna be no end to this!" Rude exclaimed, kicking a Soldier into oblivion. Just then, a ground shaking roar rang out across the landscape.

"Wh-What was that?!" Ejay stuttered, terrified. As an answer, a monstrous creature. It was a combination of three Darksides. Three dreadlocked heads. Six, clawed and spiked arms. Two razor toothed legs. And a giant heart shaped hole in its armoured chest.

"Oh, great. And just when I was starting to have fun." Reno sighed, gripping his rod tighter. But Kirin blocked his path with his arm.

"Reno, don't!" We all stared at the messenger. "I've fought one of these before. And it nearly killed me! The world it was on was destroyed! Nothing can beat it! I don't think even the great mister Stein can kill one!"

"So how do we kill it?!" Caddie pressed, holding Kaz's arm over her shoulder.

"You're looking at this the wrong way! It's not about winning or losing with these things. It's about how are we gonna escape. No more like who's gonna survive."

"This thing's going to kill some of us?!" The monstrosity let out another roar, demolishing the forest trees in the force's wake.

"Oh no! Everybody, RUN!"

"Come on! We've gotta evacuate as many civilians as possible!" Mika ordered. We all scattered but the Heartless opened a pair of bat like wings and planted them in the ground, cutting everyone off and trying to squish us. It hit Ejay away like an ant.

"Damn you!" He yelled. Everyone froze as our master stood between his fallen children and the apocalyptic being.

"Master!"

"Run to the Gummi Ships!" He began glowing with a golden light and grew in size before our very eyes! "I may not have much magic left in me, but it's still enough to protect my little brats!" He cried, trapping the Heartless in a head lock.

"There's no way he can win!" Rude shouted.

"Father, please stop!" Beka sobbed.

"RUN! Are you going to disobey your master's orders until the end?!"

"The...End...?" Caddie muttered. Ejay stepped up, anger burning in his eyes and heart.

"I am the son of the Master Jak! If that's the enemy, I'm gonna-!" I dragged him away by his collar.

"Run, Ejay!"

"Hey! Lemme go- Uh?!" The tears that were streaming from my eyes, shocked him into silence. It was the first time he'd ever seen me cry, as I pulled him away from his father and the danger, as my master ordered. The others, also stunned, followed suit, tears spilling from their own eyes. Ejay ran ahead of me as I slowed to look back at my master. I turned back to the escape route, regretfully but listened to my masters thoughts.

'_One day, when you're older, you'll understand. Live, my proud little brats. Live... into the future!'_

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Everyone was climbing into the Gummi Ships, their eyes overflowing with tears.

"Everybody! Into the Gummi Ships!" Kirin instructed. I slowed to a halt. "Raven, c'mon, we can't afford to waste time!" I looked back at the place where our master was fighting to protect us, then back to everyone in the Gummi Ships and back to my master's direction again. I had decided. "Raven, you can't be serious in thinking you can beat that thing?!"

"Look at us! We're running away from our master! We're deserting our family!" They all stared at the ground, the atmosphere thick with melancholy. "We are members of the Fire Dragon Abbey! Are we just going to abandon our master and save ourselves?! The main rule of being a part of this academy, is to protect our comrades!" I stood there panting after my shouting. "Now I don't know about you, but I won't stand by idly while the man who raised me and trained me gets killed! So either you can stay here with your melancholy and live with the guilt and sadness of today, or you can get your arses back over there and save our world or die trying!" I yelled. Not waiting for their responses, I charged towards the battle. My master was pinned by the Heartless, a look of peace and a smile on his face. I ran past his enlarged body as his eyes snapped open to my footsteps.

"Raven!?" I climbed up onto one of the Heartless' arms and held on tightly, tears of rage and pride spilling from my eyes.

"Gimme...back... MY MASTER!" The triple Darkside, roared and threw Jak aside, sending him into a cliff. I looked over to him, now his normal size, protected by Kirin and Rude.

"You two as well?!" Kirin smirked.

"I was against it... But do you really think the people in your abbey would run away, leaving a senile old fool behind?" My master could no longer contain his emotions and let his own tears fall. I leapt down into my group of comrades surrounding Jak.

"Everybody, go full power! Anyone who says "I haven't got any more than this" I'm kicking their arse!" I yelled, getting ready to fight for my home. For my Friends. For my family. "The rules of the abbey are..."

"One: Protect your comrades!" Kaz tied her whip around the legs of the beast and felled it while he father broke its shins with his giant hammer.

"Two: Don't die for your friends, LIVE for them!" Caddie performed a sacred enchantment to further restrain the monster.

"Three: Whenever, wherever, always have your friends back!" Reno stabbed its eyes, blinding it.

"Four: Never give up!" Rude performed Shockwave on its spined back, shattering the spikes and armour.

"Five: Embrace your dreams, and, whatever happens, protect your honour..." I leapt into the air and descended through the heart shaped hole, cross slashing, spreading Fire throughout the creature's body. "AS SOLDIER!" The creature roared in agony and swiped everyone, every member of the abbey, into trees, rocks and cliffs, striking us all down. "Damn bastard! You took... everything we got... and you're still... grinning?!" I wheezed. Supporting myself on all fours. I looked around at my fallen comrades. Kaz's father, Kaz and Caddie were in a crumpled heap at the base of a splintered oak. Master Jak, Ejay and Kirin were slumped against the cliff face, unmoving. Beka, Mika, Rude and Reno were half buried underneath a pile of debris. I curled my hands into fists upon the earth, staring downward at nothing, just letting my tears hit the ground, one after another.

'"_Everyone is so nice to me, Master. It's weird but... Nice. Why is that?"_

"_Everyone in this abbey is considered family. Let me tell you something, Raven. Places like Dragon Fire Abbey are places where people can meet new friends, find work, and children with no kin to call their own, can feel like they're part of a family. Bonds are struck in these places and this is why they are so strong."_

"_Like that saying about 'all for one, and one for all'?"_

"_Precisely. We work together, we celebrate together and we grow together. We've all been your friends since the very beginning. I know you're not used to people being so friendly, but that doesn't mean you have to shut us out. If you just reach out, I promise, there will always be someone there for you. You're surrounded by people who care for you. And once you're finally able to see that connection, you'll never forget that it's there."'_

My heart was drumming in my ears, a steady, slow beat. I staggered to my feet, battered, but full of a protective passion. "Y-You... Hurt my...Family... That makes you... An enemy of... The abbey..." My body began to radiate a magical blue aura. I glared up at the triple Darkside with electric blue eyes. "I CRUSH MY FAMILY'S ENEMIES!" Fire erupted around my body and spread into a dragon like shape, before flying into my chest. There was silence, then out from underneath me, a blue Magic Circle spread a good fifteen foot diameter as I let out a breath of blue fire with an almighty roar, like a dragon's, and engulfed the Heartless in the roar of the Twilight Dragon, striking it down with one, fatal blow. I then leapt into the air and planted my bare fist into its centre head, destroying it with the Twilight Dragon's Immortal Fist. Walking out of the dust cloud, I saw everyone stood on their feet, smiling wearily with teary eyes. I returned their gesture as I fell to my back, exhausted. "Ah... We did it... We killed it..." Caddie and Kaz sat next to me, thanking me for my help. "How did the Guardian Barrier shatter?"

"A man in a brown robe was seen in the Capricorn lake, putting a Shadow Heartless into Phelicia's Keyhole. With the Darkness inside the Heart of our world, the Guardian Barrier became ineffective and shattered." Kaz explained gravely.

"Only the Keyblade can lock the Keyhole and save Phelicia now."

"I see... So there is no hope for our world. We may as well evacuate anyone we can." I concluded getting up and leading everyone to the Gummi Ships. However, before we'd even left the battle field, a wave of Darkness surrounded the clearing, slowly closing in on us. Caddie realising that we were doomed, fell to her knees in despair and began sobbing again.

"I-It's just n-no use! We're g-gonna be consumed! Even though we t-tried our hardest, we st-still can't save anyone!" I gently took her hand in mine and pulled her up.

"At least we're all together. Our family is together." I smiled at her determinedly. Kaz took her other hand in her right, and her father's hand in her left. He in turn held Reno's hand, who held Rude's. Rude then held Kirin's who naturally held Beka's. She took Ejay's hand and Ejay held Mika's hand. I outstretched my left hand to my master with serious eyes. I then smiled with tears brimming my eye line again. "Let's go home, Master." He took my hand and smiled with his own tears.

"Yes, let us all go home together!" He connected the circle between me and Mika.

"TO HOME!" We all radiated an aura of pure Light as the Darkness closed in and everything was black.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Truth Of Her Heart**

I opened my eyes to black. "Mmn... Wh-Where am I?" I mumbled weakly. My eyes snapped open as my memory returned. "Kaz!? Caddie!? Master!? Where are you?" I called out, jumping to my feet. Silence. I collapsed to my knees in distress and pain from my injuries. My home. My family. My friends. All of it... Gone. I began sobbing. I hadn't cried in years, it was hard to keep control once they started to fall.

"I can help you, little girl." A bodiless voice echoed. "I can make all your pain fade away." There was a whooshing sound in front of me and a strong breeze whipped at my hair. I glanced up at the figure before me, seeing only a hooded man in a brown robe, holding his hand out to me. I sensed an intense flow of Darkness emitting from the man, worrying me. "I can make all your pain, your suffering, your anguish, disappear. You'll be free of those emotions weighing heavy on your heart." I realised this man was the one who doomed my world and backed away on all fours, like a scared puppy.

"Y-You... You're the one that destroyed my home!?" I whispered, frightened and weary.

"I can make all your fantasies become reality. All your wishes will become true. Just come with me, and you'll experience true freedom and happiness." The man took a step towards me but was interrupted by a familiar, chillingly sharp voice.

"You will do no such thing!" A flurry of green flames blocked his path to me and Maleficent materialised between us, her arms slightly outstretched protectively. "She is mine! You would do best to leave this child alone! Now be gone!" She bellowed. The man, disappointed in losing, disappeared in a swirl of Darkness. Maleficent then turned to my shaking form and covered me with her robe as she teleported us to her meeting room. "Riku told me of your friend's message. I am deeply sorry for your loss." She comforted as she helped me up and sat me on the circular table. "We travelled to your world hoping to help in some way, but all we found was Darkness and a small area of Light where you were battling that Trinity Darkside. However we were unable to access that clearing and could only watch you and your friends in that Battle Royal. I must say, you were surrounded by such brilliant people." She began bandaging my arms where they were badly cut and dabbed at my bruised and bloody face with a wet cloth. "And yet, you defeated such a dangerous Heartless with just your Limit Break."

"My... what?" My voice was weak and croaking.

"Your Limit Break. It happens when someone hits their lowest point and has powerful emotion flowing through their heart. Yours broke when destruction seemed inevitable and your friends lay scattered. You were ignited with that blue flame and used those Dragon Slayer Arts to protect what is dear to you."

"So, what I did was... because I was at my lowest point? I can only do that as a last resort?" I wheezed.

"Not a last resort, a powerful surge of energy accumulated into an attack to finish the battle. Some people have learnt to use their Limit Break when they wish it, and so it becomes a Special Attack and they develop a new, stronger Limit Break."

"I see. How did you find me after Phelicia was devoured? And why wasn't I devoured with it?"

"In most cases of worlds being lost to Darkness, strong willed people with exceptional Light in their heart, are sent into a limbo. They remain there until they are ready to leave or until someone finds them. That man who was with you must've been monitoring the limbo for you in particular. Once we evacuated your world, I immediately travelled to your location, sensing your being was still alive. It was a good thing too, for who knows what he may have tricked you into doing." She explained as she finished being a Samaritan. I held my arm to stop myself from shaking so violently due to holding back another flood of tears.

"Is there somewhere I could be alone, please?" I asked quietly.

"Of course, I will show you a place where no one should bother you. The Rising Falls is a very primitive area of Hollow Bastion." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and lead me down a hidden staircase to the Water Way, through a pair of wrought iron gates and out into a natural basin filled with water which rose up the rocky walls like a reversed waterfall and small stone islands floated inside the bowl at different levels. The one we were currently standing on had an archway and part of a courtyard. "I shall leave you to... Your thoughts." With that, she left me alone and as soon as I was sure she was out of earshot, I stood under the archway, silent tears streaming down my cheeks once more, an occasional snivel or sob audible. I didn't know how long I was stood there, just staring out over the vast rocky plains and the Rising Falls, the gentle breeze which once brought me calming comfort, now only seemed to whisper harsh words such as _Failure, Murder_ and_ Death_.

"There you are." A familiar and unwanted voice called from the Water Way gates. I wiped my tears and straightened up. "I've been looking for you since Maleficent told me you were safe. I wanted to..."

"Go away, Riku! I don't need you right now!" I snapped, trying to keep a level voice, but unable to contain sobs and my voice cracked as I raised my voice. I heard the silver haired youth jump down and land behind me, ignoring my wishes.

"I saw what happened, I know how that feels..." He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder but I whipped around, forcing it off. The tears had begun to fall again.

"No you don't know what it's like! Your friends are still alive! Mine are gone! They were my only family! The only people who actually CARED for me! And they're gone!" I screamed. "To lose _everything_ you ever cherished! Everything that mattered to you! The very things you swore to protect!" His eyes widened as he realised I was crying. "The ones that welcomed you into their family! The ones that rebuilt your self confidence! You don't know what that feels like, Riku! You don't know what that feels like because you've never been alone like I have!" I turned away and covered my face as I began to bawl uncontrollably. His hand went to touch my shoulder again but I shook it off, to which he roughly grabbed my shoulder and spun me to face him so he could pull me into his chest and hold the back of my head and my back in a warm embrace.

"You're right. My friends are still alive, and I know the pain I feel can't compare to what you're feeling." I sobbed into his chest, staining his top and chest belts with salty water. "But I just want you to know, that you haven't lost everyone that cares for you." I looked up at him, his warm eyes gazing into my own comfortingly. "I care for you too." I let out a small gasp as my cheeks flushed. He slowly moved his hand from my head and trailed it around to my cheek, wiping away tears, caressing it, tilting my head up slightly as he leant his own head down. My fingertips slid up to his shoulders as our faces inched towards each other. His eyes slowly closed, my blush darkening, our lips were mere centimetres apart! And then it happened. Our lips connected. The world around us melted away as I moved my hands up to Riku's face, cupping it, deepening the kiss.

'_Riku...'_ He pulled away, opening his eyes.

"I didn't realise it until you got that message, but now I understand, that I care for you. And I couldn't bear it if something happened to you. I guess that's why I tried to stop you from leaving. I didn't want to risk losing you, Raven." He wrapped his arms around me in another hug. For some reason, I felt safe in his arms. But there was something else. The pounding in my heart, the blushes on my cheeks. There was more to our friendship. We were more than friends now, but less than... What? What was it we were less than? It didn't matter, all that mattered to me was that Riku had managed, somehow, to comfort me. "You need a good night's sleep after today. C'mon, I'll take you back to your room." He advised, putting one arm around me.

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I tossed and turned in my bed sheets for hours, unable to find sleep. Eventually, I sat up and stared at the photo of me, Kaz and Caddie. My chest was still hurting form all the crying I'd done that day and my eyes were sore from the amount of times I had rubbed them. Setting the photo down, I got out of bed and went through to the bathroom and knocked on Riku's door quietly before entering. "Riku." I saw his sleeping form beneath the yellow bed covers, rolling over in a restless dream, muttering nonsense. I sat on his desk chair watching him slumber. He scrunched up his face in a way you would when there was a bad smell before rolling over again. I let out a tiny giggle at his cuteness. I hugged my knees to my chest and rested my head on my shoulder. "I guess you can be cute in your own way. Even when you're not a rabbit." I whispered.

"Hm..." I looked up as Riku was dreaming again. "Sora... That's my Paopu... Give it back..." He whined sleepily. I chuckled as he reached out to an imaginary Sora and tried to grab his Paopu, whatever that was.

'_Should I take a look at his dream?'_ I thought to myself. I smirked and concentrated on his heart.

'_The dream was set on a tropical island made up of a small jungle and a tree house. There was a little islet supporting a horizontal palm tree bearing yellow, star shaped fruit_. _A boy I recognised to be Sora was running around waving one of the yellow fruits teasingly as Riku chased after him._

"_Give it back, Sora!" He yelled lunging at the brown haired youth._

"_Tell me who it's for and you can have it back." Sora laughed, dodging out of the way, letting Riku fall flat on his face in the white sand._

"_It's for someone very special to me, now give it!"_

"_Is it Kairi? I bet it is! Hey Kairi!" The short haired girl sat on the walkway looked up from what she was doing and waved at the boys giggling. "Riku's got a Pao- Ah!" Riku had bundled on top of Sora and began wrestling him for the fruit._

"_It's not Kairi!" Riku snapped making another grab for the fruit._

"_Then who is it?"_

"_You don't know her." I giggled as I watched the two youths fighting._

"_I know everyone here, Riku." Riku held up the fruit victorious and clambered over Sora. "Okay, so who is it?"_

"_I don't have to tell you now I've got my paopu back." The silvernette smirked. The world around me started to dissolve as the real Riku was waking up and I made my exit to the real world.'_

I opened my eyes and smiled.

"Hmm..." I looked up to see Riku was staring at me with sleepy eyes. "What's wrong?" He grunted.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Why not? Is everything okay?" He queried, a little more awake.

"Nothing really it's just, every time I close my eyes, it all replays in my mind. And in frightening detail." I explained sitting up straight, letting my knees down. "And, that's not all. I keep reliving bad memories from before I was SOLDIER." Riku pondered this for a while, then scooted over making room for me, patting the space he'd made.

"You can bunk with me tonight, if you want." He mumbled. I was surprised to say the least.

"I wouldn't want to bother you in my sleep." He sighed, pulling back the quilt and patting the space again.

"Take it or leave it. You're choice." He shrugged as he rolled over to face the wall. I hesitantly slid beneath the covers and snuggled into the soft pillow. Still not quite able to nod off, I shuffled closer to the quietly snoring Riku and gently nuzzled my cheek against his back, finally reaching sleep.

'_I stood cornered against the wall, surrounded by five older children shouting abuse at me and throwing rocks at my head._

"_You're such a freak!"_

"_Nobody loves you!"_

"_You don't have a mum and dad!"_

"_Even the adults hate you!"_

"_You'll never be more than an outcast! A waste of space!" They all bombarded me with rocks and stones, cutting me, bruising me, hurting me. I covered my head, terrified, waiting it out. "All you'll ever be is an accident." The leader sneered raising his arm to throw a particularly large rock at my head. However he stopped. He started shaking, dropping the rock as he clutched his chest and fell to the floor, unable to scream for the pain was too great. His accomplices were in the same state, dropping one after the other. My eyes widened as I saw what was happening and, despite the fact that they were bullying me, I tried to help them. Not understanding that I was the one doing this to them._

"_How can I help them?!" I cried frantically. Then a hooded man appeared from the mist surrounding us._

"_So little you understand. Don't you see? This is their punishment. Your punishment to them for hurting you." The man somehow appeared behind me and whispered coldly in my ear. "You're responsible for this."_

"_No!"_

"No!" I screamed, sitting bolt upright in the bed. "It was... A dream. It was just a dream." I rested my head in my palm, the image of the boys' torture burned into my memory.

"What's wrong? Are you okay, Raven?" Riku had woken up, unsurprising due to my scream.

"Just a bad memory. Nothing to worry about." I smiled reassuringly, although Riku didn't believe it for one minute.

"Do you want to talk about it? Might make them go away." He suggested, sitting up.

"It's not something I like to bring up, but I guess it's worth a shot."

'_Should I tell him my secret first? It's the only way he'll understand. And I can trust him, can't I?'_

"Though, there's something you should know about me before I tell you what happened, or else you won't understand."

"Okay, what?" I took a deep breath, preparing myself.

"Right, I have a special ability, I'm not 'normal'. I can see into people's hearts and any of the connections they have. Their dreams, emotions, memories even. I can also tell the amount of Light and Darkness within a heart and whether or not the subject heart is good or evil. I've always been able to do this. I was born like it. Pretty unbelievable, huh? That's what the scientist who discovered it thought, yet he had the proof in his hands and right in front of him."

"That's... Incredible. Can you see what a person's thinking? Or what their weaknesses are?"

"No. I can't do any of that with this ability. I can decipher an opponent's weakness by studying them during the beginning of a fight but no one can read minds. I can't see my own heart either."

"Okay, so now that I know that, what happened in your dream?"

"Before I lived at the abbey as a SOLDIER, I lived at an orphanage in one of the harbour towns. I got bullied a lot because I was an orphan, all of the orphans were. But I was the worst because I made bad things happen. Even the adults rejected me, except for Mr and Mrs Roberta and an old shop keeper. Anyway, when I was seven, I was being stoned by a group of five ten year old boys because I was apparently in their territory. They cornered me and started throwing rocks at me, scoring points for the different areas they hit and shouting abusive things like 'You're a freak!' or 'You'll never belong anywhere!'"

"That's horrible!"

"Sure was. That was part of the reason I went with Jak to the abbey, I wanted to become stronger and fulfil some promises I'd made when I was six. So as these boys were beating me, the ringleader suddenly froze halfway through lobbing another rock at my head. He was just stood there, holding his chest, shaking violently before he collapsed and had a seizure of some kind. Then before I could do anything, the other four were in the same condition. I couldn't help them, no matter what I tried, I-"

"You tried to help them, even after what they did to you?"

"They were still just kids and they were in far more pain than I was. I couldn't just sit there and watch them suffer, it wasn't in my nature. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden it just stopped. They were all unconscious and when the adults came, they blamed me and they too began beating me. Thankfully, the old shop keeper came and stopped them long enough for Mr and Mrs Roberta to arrive and shield me. They insisted that I was a monster, an accidental abomination. That I should be locked up, away from harming the other children. Obviously I couldn't stay where I was, so Jak came down and brought me to the abbey where he helped me control my emotions and strength. He taught me a lot, the old geezer."

"So what does your ability have to do with this?"

"Well, Jak and I found out that the reason the boys were in such pain, was because I had somehow managed to enter all of their hearts and cause them excruciating pain. What I was subconsciously doing, was I was slowly killing them. From within their own hearts."

"You were capable of that at just seven years old?"

"It wasn't a matter of 'I was capable', Riku, it was a matter of 'I nearly killed five children because I had no control over my own heart'. Knowing that I did that, Jak took a big risk in taking me in and reintroducing me to society. I could've seriously hurt someone or even kill them! But, it worked. I had friends, a father figure, a family, and because he took that risk, I can now control it and I'm the strongest SOLDIER in the abbey. Or at least, I was. I may even be the strongest SOLDIER ever to graduate from the abbey, if not I'm with the top five."

"So that's why you cherished them so much."

"Uh huh. It took a while to get used to, everyone being so nice to me all the time, but I soon learnt what it meant to be a part of the abbey. Part of the family. Ever since I've trained and strengthened so that I could protect what mattered to me."

"Protect the things that matter..." I heard Riku repeat under his breath. There was a short silence between us, in which, I huddled a little closer to the fifteen year old. "So, who are the top SOLDIER graduates?" He asked making conversation.

"Let's see there's five. Cloud Strife, Zack Fair, Master Jak. One of them no one says his name so I've never heard it, everyone just refers to him as the Sword Demon. He was considered a hero before he let the Darkness overwhelm his heart and turn evil. He apparently took part in the catastrophe almost fourteen year ago. After that, he was ever heard of or seen since. Not by our world anyway."

"Sounds terrible. So, what about the fifth SOLDIER? Who was he?" I pulled out the crescent moon locket from down my top and shined it in the darkness.

"He was my father, Nicholas Tymari. He was the greatest out of all of them. That's why I aim to be the best. So I can follow in his footsteps... Then surpass him."

"What happened to him?" I clenched the locket in my fist, a saddened expression across my face.

"He died. When I was just a year old, during the same catastrophe the Sword Demon was involved with. My mother too. They were both killed... By Sword Demon's blade. I swear, if I ever cross blades with him, I will end him. Permanently." Riku wrapped his arm around me and rested his head on mine.

"And I'll be there by your side if you need me."

"Thanks. I guess I should probably try to get some sleep now, or else I'm gonna be knackered in the morning." I chuckled.


	10. Chapter 10

**Starting Today, You Are SOLDIER!**

"She's a monster! A beast!"

"Just look at what she's done to our children!"

"She should be locked away in a cage, away from everyone!" These were the words I heard the townsfolk shout at my guardians through my bedroom door. I wasn't alone, my friend Nathaniel was sat next to me on the rug.

"They're right, Ace, I am a monster!" The young brunette covered my ears and stared at me with great concern in his scarlet eyes.

"That's not true, Raven! Monsters are scary and ugly! You're not!"

"But I hurt everybody. I-I don't want to hurt anyone..." I sobbed "I-I don't like it..."

"Raven, don't..."

"WHY CAN'T I JUST BE NORMAL?!" I bawled, shoving him away and sprinting out of my room, down the three flights of stairs and burst out of the front door, barging through the crowd of angry and fearful villagers.

"Look out!"

"She's going to kill us all!" I ran through the stormy terrain, getting soaked by the waves crashing against the harbour walls, being whipped in the face by my waist length hair and slipping and tripping on the wet cobblestones. I stopped at the door to the Bargain Bin store and banged on the oak door furiously until the old shopkeeper opened it.

"Who's making all that racket?! Oh- Squirt it's just you. What's wrong?" The old man grunted in his gravelly voice.

"E-Everyone hates me! Th-They said that I should be locked up in a cage!" I stuttered. The old man made way for me to enter the shop and took me inside.

"C'mon now, Squirt, ya know not ta listen to any O' those dumbasses. What you got is somethin' special, like. Somethin' new, and these people, they're just afraid O' the things they don' understand, see? Why, when I was your age, I had the best friend anyone could ever hope for! But no one but me could see past his unusual talent and that made folk scared of him 'cause they didn't know what it was."

"R-Really, Grandpa Bill?"

"Aye, Squirt. Turns out it was magic he was doin' which was strange 'cause you scarce hear about magic in these parts, let alone see it in your own village!" He chortled.

"Magic? But I thought you could only find magic in the other continents."

"Well there sure is a lot more of it, but magic can exist anywhere, Squirt! It all depends on the host's will power and belief. Now I ain't no expert on magic, but magic in its truest form is a lot like religious faith, fortune tellin', healin' and even prayer. Ya see, all of these things can create miracles that can only be felt by belief." The old man lectured.

"So I just have to believe?"

"That's right. As long as you believe in yerself, its power and those around ya, you can use magic. There, that don' seem so hard now, does it?"

"I wanna use magic! It sounds like fun!"

"And I'm sure your strong little heart is capable of great magic, Squirt!" He ruffled my hair.

"Grandpa... If I learn magic..." I began, picking up his broom "Does that mean I get to fly around on a broomstick?" I giggled.

"Maybe, Squirt, maybe. But if you can, you better give ya old grandpa a ride on the damn thing!" He demanded, extending his little finger to me.

"It's a promise!" I said, linking my own little finger with his and sealing the promise with a firm shake and a hug.

"Ya know, I think the dragons are smiling down on you, Squirt."

"Stop joking around, Grandpa, I know there's no such thing as dragons anymore." I frowned, pulling his freakishly long eyebrows.

"O' course there ain'." He chuckled sarcastically.

"Grandpa, can I borrow some scissors please?"

"Sure, but why?" He asked, handing me a pair.

"I've decided I'm going to join the Dragon's Fire Abbey and become strong! You see I made a promise to some people that I would protect what I cherished and to do that, I need strength. But I'm not strong enough as I am, so to mark my goal, I'm going to chop off my hair! It'll be a fresh start!" I stated proudly.

"Are ya sure about that? Ya know it won't grow to its current length for a long time."

"I know. And I'm positive about this. Here goes..." I put the scissors to my hair and cut it short like a boy's. "Well, my head feels much lighter!" I giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I suggest ya get Mrs Roberta ta straighten it up a bit. It's a little rough around the edges." He ruffled my newly cut hair and helped me clear up the hair clippings. "Now run along, Squirt, I'm sure Mr and Mrs Roberta are worried about ya." He opened the front door for me to head home and with a little tap on my back, I set off back to the orphanage.

"Oh, Raven, thank the dragons you're okay. What happened to your hair?!" Mrs Roberta exclaimed as I stepped through the orphanage doors.

"I cut it off." I replied bluntly.

"But it was so beautiful long! Why did you cut it all off?"

"Because I'm going to become a SOLDIER. The best ever to graduate from Grandpa Jak's Academy!" I stated proudly. Mrs Roberta and her husband covered their mouths in shock at my new goal. "I'm sick of being looked down on and treated like a pile of dirt! I'm going to join the academy, become the strongest and prove to this crummy town that they were wrong about me!" I continued determinedly.

"The academy? But you're still so young." Mr Roberta whispered.

"They take younger students than me. It's too late, I've made up my mind and I'm not changing it! Grandpa Bill has already contacted Grandpa Jak. He's coming down tomorrow!" I explained.

"You're leaving?" It was Nathaniel, emerging from the shadows of the kitchen. He was followed by the other children in the orphanage, coming out from different places where they'd been listening.

"Ace, I have to do this..."

"But _we're_ supposed to be your friends! How can you just leave us like this?! Don't you care about us at all?!" He cried, tears brimming his crimson eyes.

"I don't want to leave any of you, I swear! But... I need to go. No one's ever going to adopt me, and everyone's to scared to come here to adopt any of you guys. I'm only holding you back here." Nathaniel clenched his fists, biting his lip but ran upstairs to our room. The other children walked up to me and stared at my face with their own sad eyes before they all wrapped their arms around my legs and hugged them. Mr and Mrs Roberta embraced us as well, no one saying anything.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ace?" I asked walking into our shared room. He was laid down in his bed, curled up under the sheets. "I'm really sorry." Still no reply. "I just... I can't stay here with all this abuse. I need to go somewhere I belong." He sat up at this.

"You belong here with us, Raven."

"But I don't though. I'm rejected here. I've made my mind up, Ace." His face fell. I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him, holding out my pinkie finger.

"I promise I'll come back one day." He turned his head away. "And I'll send you chocolate from the abbey.." I added wiggling my little finger in front of his face. He side glanced at me, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth before he sighed and accepted the promise.

"You better, or I'm coming up and dragging you back."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The morning came and Jak was mere minutes away from the harbour town. I'd known Jak my entire life, as I was originally left on his doorstep during the catastrophe. Wanting me to live a 'normal' childhood, he sent me to the orphanage and few months later. He'd come and visit occasionally to see how I was doing at school and my behaviour. I was closer to him than I was most people. He was my role model. And I was happy to leave with him. All residents of the orphanage stood outside the building and said farewell to me, staring and waving after me as the horse departed, until I was long gone.

"It's a long journey to the Dragon's Fire Abbey, Raven. We will not reach the gates until nightfall."

"That's okay, Master Jak. I can manage." I responded from my seat in front of him, leaning on the stallion's neck.

"Looks like it will rain soon." I observed the morning sky, void of any clouds.

"There's no way it'll rain, Master Jak, there aren't any clouds."

"You'd be surprised at how quickly weather can change, Young One. I can sense the moisture in the air. There will be rainfall, I guarantee."

"I still say there's no way."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I told you so." Jak mused well into the heavy rainfall.

"Yeah, Yeah, you don't have to rub it in." I mumbled underneath the rain hood. "Jak, why am I wearing your cloak? Aren't you cold in the rain?"

"A little water never hurt anyone. Besides, you'll catch a cold if you're unsheltered in this weather."

"Oh okay. Y'know I actually like rain, Master Jak. It's refreshing for me." The rain didn't let up for the entire trek to the Abbey and when we finally entered the great stone courtyard, the sky was darkening even more.

"Let's get you dried off, and then we'll go to dinner." Mika, the head priestess and wife to Jak, held my hand and lead me through the rain to a dormitory of five beds. Two of them had the letter T in a shield above the head board, another had a six point star with six different weapons in the points and the letter R in the centre, and the fourth one had a cross with P engraved on it. The fifth bed was clear of an emblem. "This is your dormitory, you'll be sharing it with two boys and two girls around your age."

"What do those emblems mean, Mika?" I asked as she set about tidying the desks at the foot of each bed.

"Those? They're the professions your room mates are training in. The two with the shield T are Turk shields. Reno and Rude are the owners. And that six point star is the Ranger Symbol, each point representing the six Ranger Weapons, you see the Chain Ball, the Bow and Arrow and the Whip? They're some of them. That's Kazzian's bed, as you can see she's into mechanics." Mika indicated to Kazzian's gadget and tool strewn desk. "And here is Caddie's bed. Her profession is a Priestess, like me. She's such a neat girl, but a tad dramatic. Not to mention she's a born romantic."

"They sound nice."

"I'm sure you'll love them all, Raven! Now let's get you to dinner."

XXXXXXXXXX

The large oak doors swung open to reveal a huge dining hall filled with students of all ages, monks, priestesses, warriors, teachers, everybody that lived in the Abbey. But what took me by surprise was that many of these supposedly dignified warriors were dancing and fighting on the tables. Food was flying across the room, tables had been turned and barrels of alcohol were drained.

"Oh my, it seems things have gotten out of hand again." Mika chuckled.

"Aren't you gonna do something?!" I asked, unbelieving that such a renowned place was so uncivilised.

"It's better just to let them get on with it. Many of our residents have left over energy from the day and as they enjoy battle, they tend to brawl with each other at meal times. Or they get drunk and start fighting." I glanced over at the head table where I saw Jak doing the Kan-Kan with two other masters on the table top!

"Is it always like this?!" I groaned.

"Mostly. You get used to it though. This is just another day for us." I face palmed, thinking I was never going to get used to dinnertime brawls. "Why don't you pick a seat and help yourself to the food?" I looked up at the chaotic scene and found a quieter corner for me to eat my meal alone. I was just munching through a leg of beef when for kids roughly my age came and sat near me.

"Ugh, I am STARVING!" One of the children exclaimed. It was a boy with red spiky hair tied in a short tuft of a ponytail wearing goggles on his forehead, baggy black trousers and a white V neck T-Shirt but no shoes. He dropped himself in a seat two spaces away from me and began stuffing his face, literally shoving pieces of meat into his mouth until he looked like a hamster.

"You know, you're gonna choke one day if you don't quit scoffing your food like that." Another boy, a little older than me with a buzz cut pattern in his black hair and wearing the same as the red haired boy (though with shoes), lectured, pushing his black shades up his nose as he sat next to said red head, leaving only one chair between me and the group.

"Oh, leave him alone, I'm sure his gob's big enough to fit a mammoth. He's not likely to choke easily." This time it was a girl speaking. She had dark orange hair in a bun on top of her head, leaving two locks either side of her face, light, sandy brown eyes which sparkled in the light and a violet, knee length dress with poufy sleeves, like a princess's. She brushed her seat before sitting down on it opposite the older boy.

"Will you guys keep it down? I'm in the middle of connecting the piston to the gear crank." The last child complained. They too were female and she had dark brown hair just below her ears, with longer bangs. She also wore a green sweater, big black leather gloves, a brown floor length skirt covered by a full body black leather apron and a green striped scarf. Then the ginger girl accidently knocked the brunette's hand as she was about to connect her invention. "You idiot! I was this close to finally doing it! You did that on purpose!" She screamed at the ginger girl.

"So what if I did?! It's a stupid thing anyway! What's a tear cramp anyway?"

"That's Gear Crank, stupid, and you just made me drop it!"

"Who're you calling stupid, Moron?" The ginger girl stood up followed by the brunette.

"You wanna go?!"

"Come on then!" And they were locked in a push/shove insult war.

"Ginger Nut!"

"Gadget Geek!"

"Prima donna!"

"Oh yes! Cat fight!" The red head yelled standing on his chair and pumping his fist up.

"Sit down!" The older boy grabbed the red head's shoulder and forced him to sit down again, much to his disappointment. I stared at this strange spectacle until the older boy noticed me. "Hey, you new here?" He asked, silencing the two bickering girls, who by now were pulling each other's hair and clothes, and making the red head poke his head out from behind the other boy.

"Uh, yeah, I just got here about an hour ago."

"Ooo, new girl!" The red head said. "I'm Reno Usagia! This is..." The brunette took the cue.

"Kaz Von Smitten, nice to meet you. You must be Master Jak's new student. I have to say I- Hey!"

"I'm Caddie Hamilari!" The ginger girl butted in. "You're really pretty! Do you wear make-up? What type of boys do you like?"

"Shut up, Caddie!" The older boy snapped. "I'm Rude."

"Wait a minute, if you're the new student, then you must be the one who's joining our dormitory!" Reno figured out.

"Well done, Genius." Kazzian's sarcastic tone sounded from under the table where she was now looking for her gear crank.

"Look, you all seem really interesting but, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go back to the dormitory." I said, squeezing out of the corner and leaving the dining hall.

"She didn't tell us her name!" I heard Reno realise. I was thankful that the dormitory was quiet. I didn't care much for the loud and rowdy dinner hall.

"My roommates seem nice. I just hope they aren't too noisy." I said aloud, looking around their bed sets. Reno's was especially messy with clothes laying around on the bed and desk and nothing was in a specific place, just thrown wherever. Rude's bed set however, was the complete opposite. Everything had a place, the bed wads made to the preciseness of a military bunk, his clothes were neatly folded in the basket and a small collection of books were neatly stacked on the bed side cabinet. Kazzian's area was kept as tidy as expected on the floor, but the desk and cabinet were utterly littered with gadgets, gismos, invention blueprints, torn notebooks and the clothes basket was filled to the brim with power tools and leather aprons and gloves. And then there was Caddie's. Five clothes baskets were filled and barely visible with purple, gold, pink and silver glittery dresses, her desk was chock-a-block full of sparkling gold and silver jewellery and fluffy boxes of make-up and her bed was buried in cuddly toys and teddy bears. It was clear to me that their personalities were a wide range. Beginning to feel drowsy, I clambered into my own bed and slept.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Until I was rudely awakened by the sound of four people charging into the room. I remained still and peeked through my eyelashes at my fellow students.

"Damn it, she's asleep already!? I was gonna ask her what her name is!" Reno pouted face planting his pillow.

"Aw, she's so sweet when she's sleeping. Not like at dinner. Was it just me who thought she was a bit on edge?" Caddie asked, with nods and grunts for responses.

"I wonder what her story is?" Kaz queried as she too slid underneath her blankets.

"Why don't you ask her tomorrow?" Rude mumbled already half asleep.

"I think she'll settle in soon." Mika voiced as she appeared in the door way.

"Mika, do you know her story?" Reno asked the old priestess, everyone sitting up to listen.

"Now you kids listen here, I want all of you to be real nice to Raven. She's had it rough her whole life and she's come here to change that."

"Why, what happened to her?"

"Both her parents were killed in the Catastrophe. Poor girl was just a year old, too young to even remember their faces. She was left at our doorstep just before the attack happened, with just a locket and a letter. We kept her here for a few months, let the towns rebuild themselves and sent her to Farlem Harbour where she's lived at the orphanage. But, kids, she's been abused and bullied most of her life by that damn town, so be nice because she doesn't deserve such hate."

"Why was she bullied?"

"Well you're gonna find out anyway. Raven, she's got something special inside her- No she is special! She's always been special but the townsfolk were scared of her so they made her an outcast. Poor dear's come all this way to become strong like her father. In all the years me and Jak have known her, she's never held a grudge against the townsfolk, never hated them. She's even tried to help some of them. But she's had enough and wants a fresh start, so make it better than her last home."

"Gee I feel really bad for her!"

"Yeah, she seems so nice!"

"Hey, who was her dad?" Reno pressed.

"You don't know? She's Nicholas Tymari's daughter."

"No way! But he's the strongest SOLDIER ever to graduate from here, EVER!" The red head exclaimed.

"She's got quite the reputation to live up to then?" Rude grunted.

"I hope she makes it!" Kaz announced.

"I think she's got the guts for it!"

"Yeah, and we're gonna support her for it too!" I felt my heart swell and my eyes well up with tears as I bit my lip, fighting back the urge to cry at their kind words.

"I know you'll all be good to her."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So your name's Raven Tymari. I'm looking forward to working with you!" Reno said as the five of us were walking to a mission for the other four. I was just there to watch.

"Let's just kill the rogue heartless and get home, I'm hungry!" Kaz moaned.

"You're always hungry."

"Okay, this is where you stop, Raven. Watch from these bushes or something. Take this in case you need to defend yourself." Rude instructed, handing me a sword I could barely hold. The four of them stepped into the clearing at the edge of the cliff where the Heartless had been sighted. Sure enough a big round Heartless I recognised to be a Large Body dropped down from a cave and roared at the four students. Before my eyes they fought valiantly, but were all struck down. It was when Kaz, the strongest was cornered and about to have her head ripped off, that I instinctively leapt out from my hiding place.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" I screamed at the Heartless. It growled at me and ignored my command. "I said Leave her alone!" I repeated, sprinting at the Large Body and rugby tackling it to the ground where we rolled over the cliff edge. Luckily there was a small ledge which I managed to grab onto while the Heartless fell to its demise. Panting at what I had done, I scrambled up to the top of the cliff again where I was pulled up by Rude and Reno.

"What were you thinking?! I you could've been killed! We told you to stay hidden!" Kaz yelled. I simply turned to her with a straight face and said,

"If I had, you'd be dead." There was silence.

"But what happened with your eyes?" Rude asked.

"My... Eyes?" I repeated, confused.

"Yeah they changed colour when you shouted at the Heartless! They went blue!" Caddie elaborated.

"It was so cool!" Reno exclaimed.

"I guess I just... Got a little carried away." I said flatly.

"But why did you save us?" Kaz asked.

"Well I couldn't let you all die, I wouldn't be able to get back to the abbey." I smiled much to everyone's surprise. "And besides..." I widened my smile and winked at Kaz with a tilted head. "That's what friends do, right?" One by one they all started laughing and clapping.

"Y'know what, Raven? I think you've earned your place here!" It was Jak and he was standing on a high rock, smiling.

"You mean..." I began. He nodded.

"As of today, you are SOLDIER!"

* * *

**I don't know why I wrote this chapter. I just felt like going into how she went from orphan at a harbor to a SOLDIER :)**

**Please Review ^_^**


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